BEIJING (Realist English). Even by the standards of President Xi Jinping’s anti-graft drive, the scale of recent investigations into alleged corruption inside China’s military has been extraordinary.
In the latest wave of expulsions last month, nine senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers were removed from both the Communist Party and the armed forces, including He Weidong, formerly China’s second-highest-ranking military officer.
Authorities accused the officers of “violating party discipline” and committing “serious crimes related to their duties” — standard official euphemisms for corruption. The defence ministry said “the amounts involved are particularly huge, the nature of the offences extremely severe, and the impact exceptionally negative.”
He Weidong is the most senior PLA figure to fall in years, and the first sitting Politburo member to face an investigation since 2017. He is also the third general from the current Central Military Commission (CMC) — which began its term in 2022 with seven members — to be brought down in the widening purge.
Far from slowing, China’s campaign appears poised to continue. Signals across the military and political system suggest Beijing is preparing for a long-term crackdown on corruption within the officer corps, reinforcing Xi’s effort to cement loyalty within the PLA at a time of rising geopolitical tensions.
