Two former Chinese defense ministers who served between 2018 and 2023 were given suspended death sentences for corruption on Thursday, May 7, in unprecedented punishments at the top of the military hierarchy, a state media report said. The sentences for Wei Fenghe (72 years old) and Li Shangfu (68 years old) are the heaviest imposed on senior military officials since Chinese President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign in 2012.
After two years of imprisonment, the two men will face life imprisonment without the possibility of sentence reduction or parole, stated the Xinhua news agency, citing a military court decision.
Regularly featured in television news, where they appeared with other dignitaries, the two were also former members of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the powerful body that controls the military and is led by Xi Jinping.
The military court found Wei Fenghe guilty of accepting bribes, and Li Shangfu of active and passive corruption, according to Xinhua, which did not specify the extent of the malpractice. They were also stripped of their civil rights and had their personal assets confiscated, the agency added.
Wei Fenghe served from 2018 to 2023. Li Shangfu, his immediate successor, was defense minister for only a few months in 2023. Both men had already been expelled from the Communist Party – a political death sentence in China.
Corruption has long plagued the military institution, and efforts to combat malpractice have intensified over the past decade.
Other senior military officials have received severe sentences in the past. Guo Boxiong, a former vice-chairman of the CMC, was also sentenced to life imprisonment for corruption in 2016.
More recently, high-ranking military personnel, particularly in the branch responsible for nuclear missiles, have been dismissed.
In late January, the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced a high-profile corruption investigation against Zhang Youxia, the vice-chairman of the CMC – previously considered a close associate of Xi Jinping.
Another member of the CMC, Liu Zhenli, is also implicated in this probe. Xi Jinping praised the soldiers fighting against corruption within the military in a speech a few days later.
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