China sentences former defence ministers to death with reprieve

By Antoni Slodkowski

BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) – Former Chinese defense ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve on corruption charges, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, underlining the seriousness of the purge in the military.

The armed forces have been one of the main targets of the massive anti-corruption crackdown ordered by President Xi Jinping after he came to power in 2012. The purges also reach the elite Rocket Force, which oversees nuclear weapons as well as conventional missiles, in 2023.

They further escalated tensions earlier this year, resulting in the dismissal of the People’s Liberation Army’s top general, Zhang Youxia, a Politburo member and long seen as an ally of Xi.

Past reports in Xinhua said Li was suspected of receiving “large amounts of money” as well as bribing others, and an investigation found that Li “failed to fulfill political responsibilities” and “seeked personnel benefits for himself and others.”

An investigation into Wei launched in 2023 found that he accepted “large sums of money and valuables” as bribes and “helped others obtain improper benefits in personnel arrangements,” Xinhua reported in 2024, adding that his actions were “extremely serious in nature, causing extremely “harmful impact and tremendous harm.”

In China, a suspended death sentence is usually commuted to life imprisonment if the criminal does not commit any crime during the suspended period.

After commutation, they will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of further commutation or parole, Xinhua said.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies said this year that China’s ongoing purges of military corruption have left serious deficiencies in its command structure and are likely hampering the readiness of its rapidly modernizing armed forces.

(Reporting by Antoni Slodkowski and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Peter Graff and Alison Williams)