China has stripped six senior military officers, former financial regulator Li Yunze and recently investigated former Politburo member Ma Xingrui of their positions as lawmakers in the National People’s Congress (NPC), in the latest sign that President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign continues to target the country’s political and military establishment.According to a notice issued by the NPC Standing Committee and reported by Reuters citing state-run Xinhua News Agency, the legislature removed the officials from their posts without providing any reason for the dismissals. There was no immediate response from China’s defence ministry to Reuters’ request for comment.The move marks another escalation in Xi’s years-long anti-corruption drive, which has led to the investigation, removal and purge of dozens of senior Communist Party officials and top People’s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders.Among those removed was General Xu Xueqiang, head of the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the body responsible for overseeing the development, acquisition and testing of military equipment for the PLA. Xu has also served as commander-in-chief of China’s Manned Space Programme since 2022.Also stripped of their lawmaker status were General Li Fengbiao, political commissar of the PLA Western Theatre Command; General Guo Puxiao, political commissar of the PLA Air Force; Lieutenant General Wang Kangping of the Eastern Theatre Command; Lieutenant General Zhang Minghua of the Cyberspace Force; and Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing of the Army.According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), there had already been indications that several of the dismissed commanders were under investigation.The newspaper reported that General Xu missed a key Communist Party meeting in October last year, while Lieutenant General Wang Kangping attended the meeting but was not promoted to full membership of the party’s Central Committee. Lieutenant General Yin Hongxing was also absent when Xi carried out a surprise inspection of Tibet last August, further fuelling speculation about his status.Beyond the military, the NPC also removed former Xinjiang Communist Party chief Ma Xingrui and former National Financial Regulatory Administration head Li Yunze from the legislature.Ma, a former member of the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo, stepped down as Xinjiang party secretary in July last year, with Xinhua saying at the time that he would be “assigned to another post”. However, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), placed him under investigation in April this year, according to SCMP.SCMP also reported that Li Yunze’s profile was abruptly removed from the National Financial Regulatory Administration’s website in April before his successor was appointed the following month.The legislature also removed Guo Yonghang, the former Communist Party secretary of Guangzhou and a close associate of Ma Xingrui. Guo was placed under investigation by the CCDI in March, according to the newspaper.The latest removals come as Xi continues to tighten his grip over the military. SCMP reported that the anti-corruption campaign has already brought down dozens of senior PLA commanders, including members of the Politburo. Of the seven members of the Central Military Commission appointed at the Communist Party Congress in 2022, only Xi and the PLA’s anti-corruption chief Zhang Shengmin remain in office.Xi has repeatedly stressed that the military will remain a central focus of the campaign.“The armed forces wield the gun. There must never be room in the military for those half-hearted towards the party, nor any sanctuary for the corrupt,” Xi said during the annual meetings of China’s legislature and top political advisory body in March, according to SCMP.The latest reshuffle underscores that Xi’s anti-corruption campaign, now more than a decade old, continues to reshape the upper ranks of China’s military, political leadership and financial regulatory system.
