Military chief latest in Chinese purge

The top political commissar of China’s military has been suspended and placed under investigation as a purge of the People’s Liberation Army ordered by President Xi Jinping intensifies.

Miao Hua is the latest victim of of Xi Jinping’s military purge. Picture: AFP

The top political commissar of China’s military has been suspended and placed under investigation as a purge of the People’s Liberation Army ordered by President Xi Jinping intensifies.

The latest victim, Admiral Miao Hua, is a member of the Central Military Commission that oversees the PLA, sets strategic priorities, and is chaired by Mr Xi.

The past two defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, are awaiting prosecution after being expelled from the Communist Party and “disappearing”. Both are accused of a string of crimes, most notably taking bribes.

The details of their alleged ­offences have not been revealed but are widely assumed to be connected to an enormous investigation into China’s rocket and missile development work. That has led to the sackings and arrests of scores of senior officers and ­defence industry executives in the past two years.

The suspension of Admiral Miao followed reports emanating from US officials in Washington that Defence Minister Dong Jun might have suffered the same fate as his immediate predecessors.

Mr Dong declined a meeting his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, last week, but there had been no indication that he was under suspicion in Beijing. Reports by the Financial Times and Reuters quoting the officials were dismissed as “chasing shadows” by the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday and denied outright by the defence ministry on Thursday.

Admiral Miao had been suspended and put under investigation for “serious violations of discipline”, the defence ministry said. That vague phrase can refer to a number of alleged crimes but is often used in cases of corruption.

Once the allegation has been levelled, it is rarely, if ever, withdrawn in China’s combined legal and party disciplinary systems. In most cases, the next time any of the officials concerned are seen is when they appear in court to plead guilty and be sentenced.

The top-level inquiry into China’s military procurement has embarrassed Mr Xi, particularly since the removal of Mr Li last year as defence minister, which coincided with the fall of high-profile foreign minister Qin Gang, apparently over an affair and an illegitimate child.

Both men had been personal appointments of Mr Xi at the start of his third term in office.

The most likely explanation is serious flaws in China’s missile system, uncovered as Mr Xi oversaw an extensive modernisation of the PLA to meet what Beijing considers to be the “threat” of America’s strategic domination of the Pacific.

Mr Xi is also said to want to ­ensure the military is strong enough to seize Taiwan by force by the end of his third term, in 2027, an ambition strongly denied by Beijing spokesmen.

Reports have suggested that audits found China’s nuclear missile silos so neglected – in some cases overgrown – that they were effectively unusable.

Yet command of the nuclear and missile program, which is linked to the prestigious national space program, had been a sure route to promotion to the military’s highest levels.

The missile program is being refurbished as a matter of ­urgency, with Western analysts saying an extra 100 nuclear warheads are being added every year, along with new delivery systems.

The Times