China’s President Xi Jinping has purged the number-two general in the People’s Liberation Army, in the most dramatic act of his military anti-corruption campaign and first firing of a general in that role in six decades.
General He Weidong, the junior of two vice-chairs of the six-member Central Military Commission, which is led by Xi, was removed from his post in recent weeks, according to five people familiar with the matter.
As well as his role as the PLA’s second-ranked officer, He is third in command of the Chinese military and a member of the Communist party’s politburo. His removal is the latest in a long line of officers purged from office by Xi for alleged corruption.
He’s dismissal comes six months after Xi suspended Miao Hua, one of six top officers in the CMC, for “serious violations of discipline” — a phrase that usually refers to corruption in the Chinese military.
But He’s seniority makes his removal far more serious than the suspension of Miao. Three of the people familiar with his ousting said it was related to alleged corruption.
Speculation had risen about He’s fate in recent weeks when he was absent from events that a CMC vice-chair would normally attend. He was not present at a recent politburo meeting on Chinese diplomacy that was attended by Zhang Youxia, the other CMC vice-chair.
The previous week, He did not take part in a high-profile annual tree-planting ceremony led by Xi that the army general had joined last year.
Five of the people familiar with the situation, which include current and former US officials, said He had been purged. A sixth person confirmed that the general was no longer in the role. One of the people said He was being interrogated by authorities since his detention.
Neil Thomas, an expert on elite Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said He’s purge would be the first of a serving uniformed vice-chair of the CMC since General He Long in 1967.
“The fact that Xi Jinping can purge a CMC vice-chair shows how serious he is about stamping out corruption in the military,” said Thomas. “Xi wants to turn the PLA into an effective fighting force beyond China’s borders but also into a complete servant to his domestic agenda.”
Thomas added that the PLA was “the fundamental guarantor of the party rule inside China and is especially important at times of high domestic uncertainly like economic shocks from the US-China trade war”.
Over the past two years, Xi has removed the two heads of the PLA Rocket Force, which is partly responsible for overseeing China’s nuclear arsenal.
Xi has also purged two defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, over the past two years. In China’s system, the defence minister plays more of a diplomatic role and is less powerful than the military leaders on the CMC. Xi also fired Qin Gang, a former close aide, as foreign minister.
