China has removed six senior military officers and former financial regulator Li Yunze from their posts and recently investigated former Politburo member Ma Xingrui as a deputy to the National People’s Congress, the latest sign that President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign continues to target China’s political and military institutions.The National People’s Congress Standing Committee removed the officials, according to a notice issued by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, which cited the state-run Xinhua News Agency, but did not provide any reasons for the dismissals. China’s Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.The move marks an escalation in Xi’s years-long anti-corruption drive that has seen dozens of senior Communist Party officials and officials investigated, removed and purged. People’s Liberation Army (People’s Liberation Army) Commander.Among them is Gen. Xu Xueqiang, head of the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department, the agency responsible for overseeing the development, procurement and testing of PLA military equipment. Xu has also served as the commander-in-chief of China’s manned space program since 2022.General Li Fengbiao, Political Commissar of the Western Theater Command of the People’s Liberation Army, General Guo Puxiao, Political Commissar of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force, Lieutenant General Wang Kangping of the Eastern Theater Command, Lieutenant General Zhang Minghua of the Cyberspace Force, and Army Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing.According to the South China Morning Post, there are indications that several dismissed commanders are under investigation.The newspaper reported that General Xu missed a key Communist Party meeting last October, while Lieutenant General Wang Kangping attended the meeting but was not promoted to a full member of the party’s Central Committee. Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing was also absent when Xi Jinping made a surprise inspection of Tibet in August last year, further fueling speculation about his identity.In addition to the military, the NPC also removed Ma Xingrui, the former party secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, and Li Yunze, the former director of the State Financial Supervision Administration, from their positions in the legislature.Jack Ma, a former member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo, resigned as party secretary of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in July last year. Xinhua News Agency said at the time that he would be “transferred to other positions.” However, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), launched an investigation into him in April, the South China Morning Post reported.The South China Morning Post also reported that Li Yunze’s profile was suddenly removed from the State Financial Supervisory Authority’s website in April, before his successor was appointed the following month.The NPC also removed Guo Yonghang, former Guangzhou party secretary and a close aide to Ma Xingrui. According to the newspaper, Guo was placed under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection in March.The latest removals come as Xi Jinping continues to tighten control over the military. According to the South China Morning Post, the anti-corruption campaign has led to the ouster of dozens of senior PLA commanders, including members of the Politburo. Of the seven members of the Central Military Commission appointed by the 2022 CCP Congress, only Xi Jinping and PLA anti-corruption general secretary Zhang Shengmin remain in office.Xi Jinping has emphasized many times that the military will remain the core focus of this battle.According to the South China Morning Post, Xi Jinping said at the annual meetings of China’s legislative body and the Supreme Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in March this year that “the barrel of the gun lies in the military. There must be no people who are half-hearted about the party in the military, and there must be no sanctuary for corrupt elements.”The latest personnel changes underscore how Xi Jinping’s more than decade-long anti-corruption campaign continues to reshape the top brass of China’s military, political leadership and financial regulatory system.
