Two leaders of the Chinese People's Liberation Army have been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for "serious disciplinary and legal violations", the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
He Weidong, who was the second-ranking general in the army, and Miao Hua, a former political commissar in the army, are the highest-ranking military personnel to be removed as part of an anti-corruption campaign against the army leadership that has been conducted since 2023.
He is the first serving general from the Central Military Commission to be removed since the end of the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. He has not appeared in public since March, and Chinese authorities have so far not commented on the investigation against him.
He, Miao and seven other senior army officers named in the defense ministry statement "have committed serious violations of party discipline and are suspected of official crimes involving extremely large sums of money," defense ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said.
The crimes they committed are "serious and have extremely harmful consequences," Zhang added.
The removal of He, 67, has implications beyond the military sphere because he was a member of the 24-member CCP Politburo - the second-highest power structure in the ruling party.
He was one of the two vice-chairmen of the CCP's Central Military Commission and is the third-most influential commander in the army. He was considered a close aide to President and Supreme Commander-in-Chief Xi Jinping.
The news of the expulsion of senior generals from the party was announced on the eve of the fourth plenum of the 20th CPC Central Committee. The plenum is expected to formally approve other personnel changes, such as the removal of members of the CPC Central Committee.
Miao was expelled from the Central Military Commission in June after an investigation into him for "serious disciplinary violations" began in November.