The road to justice for senior Chinese officials accused of wrongdoing is often long and tortuous. The first step is usually detention, interrogation, and an internal investigation quietly conducted by the Communist Party’s disciplinary arm. This triggers frantic but uninformed talk of the official’s disappearance. Weeks or months later, state-controlled media confirm that the official has been removed from office and is under investigation. Some time later it is announced that the official has been stripped of his or her party membership. The matter then moves to the judicial system.
Two prominent figures have now reached the end of that process. Li Shangfu (pictured) and Wei Fenghe are former generals in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Both served as defence ministers. Last summer they disappeared from public view and in the autumn Mr Li was removed from his post (Mr Wei had retired). On 27 June the official news agency, Xinhua, reported that they were being investigated for “serious” offences. Investigators claimed that both had accepted “a huge amount of money and valuables” in bribes. The Politburo has expelled them from the party. They will now face criminal charges from military prosecutors.
The cases of Li and Wei are part of a broader crackdown on corruption and wrongdoing in the military launched last year by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Before serving as defense minister from 2018 to 2023, Wei had been in charge of the PLA Rocket Force, which is responsible for the country’s arsenal of conventional and strategic land-based missiles. Several leaders of the force, along with a handful of other generals, were removed from China’s legislature last year, losing their immunity from arrest or criminal charges.
The upheaval is a sign of serious problems with Xi’s efforts to revitalize China’s military. Shortly after coming to power in 2012, he made his first attempt to crack down on widespread corruption. Dozens of generals were dismissed, including two retirees who had served at the top of the military, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou. Yet even after that cleanup effort, high-level corruption apparently persists.
As a result, some have cast doubt on China’s military preparedness. Earlier this year, Bloomberg news agency reported that corruption in the rocket force had led to missiles loaded with water instead of fuel. US intelligence analysts were quoted as saying that corruption in China’s defence industrial base was so severe that Xi would likely avoid military confrontation in the coming years.
State media reports on the latest investigations and suggests that party leaders are furious. The alleged actions of Li and Wei are portrayed as a betrayal. Both men were appointed by Xi. According to Xinhua, Li has “caused enormous damage to the party cause” while Wei has “lost its faith and loyalty”.
However, capricious leadership in the military is not Xi’s only problem. Around the same time Li and Wei disappeared, another murky scandal emerged, this time at the top of China’s foreign ministry. With Xi’s clear backing, a diplomat named Qin Gang had leapfrogged other officials to become foreign minister in 2022. Last June, he disappeared amid rumors of indiscretions in his personal life.
Mr Qin has since been dismissed as foreign minister and stripped of other titles, but he has not been expelled from the party or charged with corruption. He may avoid the fate of Mr Li and Mr Wei. On the road to justice, they are at a point where things tend to speed up. Trial, conviction and sentencing are the final steps.
© 2024, The Economist Newspaper Limited. All rights reserved. From The Economist, published under license. The original content can be found at www.economist.com
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