Xi Expels China's Top Military Leaders in Purge

“SINGAPORE -- China has purged its second-most senior general and eight other high-ranking military commanders, as leader Xi Jinping dials up a crackdown on corruption and disloyalty in the armed forces with the ouster of a handpicked protege.

 

Gen. He Weidong, the lower-ranking of two vice chairmen on the Communist Party's top military decision-making body and a member of the 24-man Politburo, has been dismissed from the party and the military for severe disciplinary violations and abuses of power, a spokesman for China's Defense Ministry said Friday.

 

The party also purged eight other senior officers, including Adm. Miao Hua, the former head of the Central Military Commission's political-work department; ex-commanders of China's strategic-missile force and paramilitary police; and former political commissars of China's army and navy, according to the spokesman.

 

Investigators found that the nine men had committed "severe violations of party discipline" and "serious duty-related crimes," the spokesman said.

 

Their alleged offenses, which the spokesman said involved especially huge sums of money, were extremely serious in nature and had an extremely negative impact, he said.

 

All nine men will face court-martial, the spokesman said. None of them could be reached to comment.

 

Xi's latest crackdown has raised questions about his ability to root out graft and enforce loyalty in the People's Liberation Army and make the armed forces combat ready. At stake is China's quest to become a first-rate military power that can protect its global interests, compete with the U.S. for strategic dominance and potentially seize Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its territory.

 

Gen. He is the most senior active-duty military officer that Xi has purged, and the first incumbent vice chair of the Central Military Commission, or CMC, to be ousted in nearly four decades. The 68-year-old general, who hasn't been seen publicly since March, is also the first sitting Politburo member to be investigated since 2017.

 

China last purged military officials at this level of seniority roughly a decade ago, when the party expelled two retired CMC vice chairmen on corruption charges.

 

As the CMC's second-ranked vice chair, He had been overseeing political discipline and ideological training in the armed forces, among other duties.

 

Miao, an ordinary member of the CMC and the former head of its political-work department, was suspended late last year when Beijing first announced an investigation against him.

 

The party hasn't announced replacements. The party's governing Central Committee could appoint new members to the CMC at a plenary meeting next week.

 

He appeared in public most recently in March at the annual meeting of China's national legislature. Since then, He has missed official engagements including Politburo meetings and an annual tree-planting event in April.” [1]

 

1. World News: Xi Expels China's Top Military Leaders in Purge. Chun Han Wong.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 18 Oct 2025: A9.