Beijing [China], November 29 : China's defence ministry announced that a high-ranking military official has been suspended and is under investigation for corruption, as President Xi Jinping expands his extensive crackdown on senior members of the country's military, CNN reported.
Admiral Miao Hua, a member of the influential Central Military Commission (CMC), China's highest military authority chaired by Xi, is being investigated for "serious violations of discipline"a term often used to refer to corruption, according to Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian during a press briefing on Thursday, CNN reported.
Miao, 69, is in charge of the Political Work Department of the CMC. He is widely regarded as a close ally of Xi, having worked as a political officer in the army in Fujian province during the 1990s and early 2000s when Xi was a local official there, as per CNN.
The announcement of Miao's suspension and investigation follows a report by the Financial Times, which stated that China's Defence Minister Dong Jun is also under investigation for corruption, according to current and former US officials.
The Defence Ministry spokesperson dismissed the report as "sheer fabrication."
"Those rumour mongers harbour evil motives. China expresses strong dissatisfaction over such smears," he said, CNN quoted.
Since last year, Xi has launched an extensive anti-corruption campaign within China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), with a particular focus on the Rocket Force, the prestigious division responsible for the country's nuclear and conventional missile programs.
The crackdown resulted in the removal of several high-ranking generals, including former defense minister's Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, both of whom were expelled from the party in June due to corruption charges.
The continued instability within the military's senior leadership occurs as Xi aims to strengthen China's armed forces, enhancing their combat readiness and assertiveness in defending its contested territorial claims in the region. In line with his goal to develop the PLA into a "world-class" military, China has invested billions of dollars in acquiring and upgrading military equipment.
Since last summer, more than a dozen high-level military officers and aerospace executives in the military-industrial complex have been stripped of their public roles.
The majority of the generals ousted were associated with the Rocket Force or military equipment, including former defence ministers Li and Wei, CNN reported.
Last summer, Li vanished from the public eye just months into his role, shortly after an unexpected leadership overhaul in the Rocket Force. He was dismissed from his position in October, with no official reason provided, and was succeeded by Dong, the current defence minister.
In China, the defence minister holds a mostly symbolic role, acting as the public representative for military diplomacy with other nations. Unlike his predecessors, Dong was not appointed to the Central Military Commission (CMC), marking a significant departure from tradition in recent years. Miao, the latest senior military official under investigation, is considered a political ally of Dong, who is also an admiral and previously served as the top commander of the PLA Navy. Miao, originally from Fujianan area closely associated with Xi's power baserose through the military's political departments. In 2014, two years after Xi assumed power, Miao was promoted to political commissar of the PLA Navy, a position he held while Dong was deputy chief of staff there. In 2017, Miao was further promoted to head the CMC's Political Work Department.
Since taking power in 2012, Xi has made eliminating corruption and disloyalty a key focus of his leadership, and the ongoing purges indicate that this campaign is far from finished within the military.
"Corruption within China's military is not just the result of a 'few bad apples.' It is deeply ingrained in the way the PLA operates, far more so than in most other military forces around the world, where the rule of law and oversight mechanisms help uncover significant acts of nepotism and corruption," said Lyle Morris, a foreign policy and national security fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, on X. "Despite Xi's efforts, corruption in the PLA will persist and continue to challenge both Xi and his successor in the years to come."
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