China's former defence ministers Wei Fenghe, Li Shangfu given suspended death sentences on graft charges

The punishments are believed to rank among the harshest imposed on senior Chinese military officials in decades, highlighting the severity of China's anti-corruption drive within its armed forces.

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BEIJING: Former Chinese defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were both sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve over graft charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday (May 7), underscoring the severity of the purge in the military.

Past reports in Xinhua said Li had been suspected of receiving "huge sums of money" in bribes as well as bribing others, and an investigation found he "did not fulfil political responsibilities" and "sought personnel benefits for himself and others".

An investigation launched into Wei in 2023 found that he had accepted "a huge amount of money and valuables" in bribes and "helped others gain improper benefits in personnel arrangements", Xinhua reported in 2024, adding that his actions were "extremely serious in nature, with a highly detrimental impact and tremendous harm".

A death sentence with reprieve in China, also known as a suspended death sentence, is typically commuted to life imprisonment if the offender commits no crimes during the period of reprieve.

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After the commutation, they will be imprisoned for life without the possibility of further commutation or parole, Xinhua said. It added that both men were also stripped of their political rights for life, and all of their personal property will be confiscated.

Wei, the former commander of the Rocket Force from 2015 to 2017, was replaced by Li as state councillor and defence minister in March 2023.

Li, one of Xi’s most trusted generals, had overseen weapons design and procurement, and spearheaded Xi’s vision of military modernisation. He was a veteran leader of China’s ambitious space programme, overseeing numerous space missions. 

Wei and Li were members of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), the country's top military decision-making body.

The suspended death sentences handed to them are believed to be among the harshest punishments imposed on senior Chinese military officials in decades.

Former CMC vice-chair Guo Boxiong was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016 for taking bribes, while fellow former CMC vice-chair Xu Caihou died of cancer in 2015 while under investigation for corruption, before he could stand trial.

The armed forces have been one of the main targets of a broad corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping after coming to power in 2012. The purges reached the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023.

Earlier this year they escalated further, resulting in the removal of the top general in the People's Liberation Army, Zhang Youxia, who was the top-ranked CMC vice-chair and a Politburo member, and was long seen as an ally of Xi.

China's ongoing military corruption purges are leaving serious deficiencies in its command structure and are likely to have hampered the readiness of its rapidly modernising armed forces, the International Institute for Strategic Studies said this year.

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