China says top military official Miao Hua suspended, under investigation
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Chinese top military official Miao Hua (in white) had been removed from office and was suspected of “serious violations of discipline”.
PHOTO: AFP
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BEIJING – A top Chinese military official has been dismissed while an investigation into “serious violations of discipline” takes place, Beijing said on Nov 28, the latest senior figure to fall in a sweeping crackdown on graft in the country’s armed forces.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from duty pending investigation”, Mr Wu Qian, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defence, told a press briefing.
Mr Wu did not provide further details about the charges against Admiral Miao, a member of Beijing’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC).
But “serious violations of discipline” are commonly used by officials in China as a euphemism for corruption.
Adm Miao sat on the CMC alongside five other men, including President Xi Jinping at the top.
He headed the CMC’s Political Work Department, the top military body’s most important office.
Adm Miao has been described as a “close ally” of Mr Xi and a “trusted interlocutor” between the military and the party by Mr Lyle Morris, a senior fellow at the Asia Society.
Beijing has deepened a crackdown on alleged graft in the armed forces over the past year, with Mr Xi in November ordering the military to stamp out corruption and strengthen its “war-preparedness”.
The intensity of the anti-graft drive in the army has been partially driven by fears that endemic corruption may affect China’s ability to wage a future war, Bloomberg reported, citing US officials in 2024.
The investigation into Adm Miao is “in line with Xi’s added scrutiny on the armed forces” said National University of Singapore’s Associate Professor of political science Chong Ja Ian.
His removal reveals the “endurance of corruption and discipline issues across the system in the (armed forces), despite the strong efforts made by Xi,” said Assistant Professor Dylan Loh from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
At the same briefing, Mr Wu denied reports that Defence Minister Dong Jun
“The reports in question are pure fabrications,” Mr Wu said.
“The rumour-mongers are ill-intentioned. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with such slanderous behaviour,” he added.
A former navy commander, he was appointed defence minister in December following the surprise removal of predecessor Li Shangfu
Li was later expelled from the ruling Communist Party for offences including suspected bribery, state media said. He has not been seen in public since.
His predecessor, Wei Fenghe, was also kicked out of the party
The country’s secretive Rocket Force – which oversees China’s vast arsenal of strategic missiles, both conventional and nuclear – has come under particularly intense scrutiny.
In July, a top Chinese official in the Rocket Force, Sun Jinming, was kicked out of the party and placed under investigation for corruption.
At least two other high-ranking officers connected to the Rocket Force, a relatively new unit of the Chinese military, have also been removed for graft.
“We will see many more investigations into the PLA and this will not end with Miao Hua or Li Shangfu,” Associate Professor Alfred Wu from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, told AFP. AFP
