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China’s military
ChinaMilitary

Li Shangfu’s dismissal as China’s defence minister came with no details, but a few clues, observers say

  • Beijing offered no explanations after the defence chief was sacked, but experts point to telltale signs leading up to his demise
  • As Xi Jinping demands absolute loyalty, Li’s ‘problem could ruin the entire PLA’, analyst says

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A person close to the PLA says Li’s case was handled in a “special and abnormal way” during an anti-corruption campaign within the forces that probed a number of senior generals. Photo: Reuters
Jack LauandMinnie Chan

Beijing has remained silent over why General Li Shangfu – now China’s shortest-serving defence minister – was sacked, but signs leading up to his dismissal suggested that he may have been implicated in corruption, against which President Xi Jinping has launched an aggressive campaign since taking power in 2012.

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Li’s fall came after multiple efforts by the Communist Party to ramp up scrutiny over corruption in areas closely related to him.
On July 26, the equipment development department of China’s top state military command, the Central Military Commission (CMC), published a notice asking the public to report any abuse of power, leaking of secrets or other irregularities in how equipment tenders had been assessed since October 2017. The notice did not mention Li, but he had begun to serve as head of the department only a month before.

Just over a month earlier, on June 18, 2023, the CMC said it had released a code of conduct governing how military leaders socialise with others, including government officials, family and friends, the media and religious groups. The CMC said the requirements, which were not disclosed, were intended to improve party discipline and ensure that disciplinary departments could hold military officials accountable for questionable conduct.

Before Li’s downfall, at least three senior officers with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force were under investigation, two sources told the South China Morning Post in July. In the same month, Beijing parachuted in two generals to the top two positions in charge of the rocket force, the service branch that oversees China’s nuclear arsenal.
Li’s abrupt departure was the second unexplained top leadership shake-up in three months. But unlike the first case, where Qin Gang, the former foreign minister, was replaced in July by his predecessor Wang Yi, Beijing has so far named no replacement for Li.
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Unlike Qin, Li was stripped of all his government titles at once: minister, state councillor and CMC member.

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