China’s Defense Minister Dong Jun is underneath investigation in a sweeping anti-corruption probe focusing on senior ranks of the People’s Liberation Army, the Financial Times reported Wednesday.
Dong is the third consecutive serving or former Chinese Defense Minister to be investigated for alleged corruption, the FT reported, citing present and former U.S. officers.
When requested in regards to the FT report at a every day press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning stated it was “chasing shadows.”
China’s Defense Ministry didn’t instantly reply to Reuters requests for remark.
China’s army has undergone a sweeping anti-corruption purge since final 12 months, with at the least 9 PLA generals and a handful of protection business executives faraway from the nationwide legislative physique so far.
Dong, a former PLA Navy chief, was appointed Defense Minister in December 2023. His predecessor, Li Shangfu, was eliminated after seven months into the job.
Dong final week declined to satisfy U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin throughout a gathering of protection ministers in Laos citing U.S. actions over Taiwan, a transfer the Pentagon chief stated Wednesday was unlucky.
As protection minister, Dong is liable for China’s army diplomacy with different nations. He oversaw a current thaw in U.S.-China military-to-military ties, with each nations holding theater-level commander talks for the primary time in September.
However, he was not promoted to the six-member Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s highest-level army physique, throughout a significant Communist Party plenum earlier this 12 months, the place personnel reshuffles would usually be introduced.
China’s protection minister has historically been a member of each the CMC, which is headed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the State Council, China’s cabinet-level govt physique.
Dong was not appointed to the State Council both throughout a authorities reshuffle in March.
“Frankly nothing would surprise me anymore,” stated Dennis Wilder, a professor at Georgetown University and former U.S. intelligence analyst.
“The history with these investigations in the PLA is that once the string of corruption is pulled many other threads are revealed and the sweater unravels.”
Dong’s two rapid predecessors, Li and Wei Fenghe, had been expelled from the Communist Party in June for “serious violations of discipline,” a euphemism for corruption.
A Communist Party assertion on the time stated the pair “betrayed the trust of the party and the Central Military Commission, seriously polluted the political environment of the military and caused great damage to … the image of its senior leaders.”
The pair had been additionally discovered to have obtained large sums of cash in bribes and sought to offer “personnel benefits” for others, the assertion stated, similar to promotions or greater rankings within the army.
Reuters completely reported final 12 months that Li was underneath investigation for suspected corruption in army procurement.
Wei had disappeared from public view after he was changed in March 2023 throughout a deliberate cupboard reshuffle. Wei was head of the strategic People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force from 2015-17.
Source: www.dailysabah.com