When China’s Defense Minister, General Li Shangfu (65 years old), disappeared from the public sphere at the end of August, rumors about a new dismissal in the political elite of the Asian superpower exploded. As usually happens, silence prevailed in Beijing, where they do not usually give explanations for these absences. In addition, there was a lot of commotion because the fall of another minister and several high-ranking military officers in the midst of restructuring the Army was very recent. This Tuesday, it was the state news agency Xinhua that officially confirmed the dismissal of Li, who had barely been in office for seven months.
The same sequence has been repeated as when Qin Gang, the then Foreign Minister, was dismissed in July. First, the target disappears from focus. Beijing lets all kinds of speculation run wild and, weeks later, confirms the fall. And, as in the case of Qin, no one explains the reasons that have pushed President Xi Jinping to get rid of a veteran general who had been appointed Minister of Defense during the last National People’s Congress (NPC), the annual session of the Chinese Parliament.
Only, after the minister’s prolonged absence, were several Chinese officials who privately indicated that behind it there was an ongoing corruption investigation for a plot related to the purchase of military equipment.
The portfolio that Li held, unlike other countries in the West, has a more diplomatic, more ceremonial weight than political decision-making. In China, it is the powerful Central Military Commission that actually runs military affairs. This body is made up of seven people, among them was the Minister of Defense, below two vice presidents and Xi Jinping in the command ladder. The omnipresent leader is also at the head of this commission as the highest military authority in the country.
But Li was the face of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and held a seat in the State Council, China’s cabinet, as did Qin Gang, replaced as foreign minister in July by his predecessor, Wang Yi. The fallen politicians, Li and Qin, were also expelled from the Council on Tuesday, losing a rank higher than that of ministers.
The announcement comes a few days before a regional security forum begins in Beijing, which will be attended by a Pentagon delegation. It will be another general, Liu Zhenli, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military body responsible for combat operations and planning, who will lead the talks at the forum.
Reuters assured a few weeks ago that Liu was the great favorite to be named the new Defense Minister. The next event in which he will be the protagonist will represent the public resumption of high-level military communications between China and the United States after Beijing broke this line with Washington following the 2022 visit to Taiwan of the then president of the House of Representatives of United States, Nancy Pelosi.
Before the forum begins, this week there will be an important contact between the two superpowers with the visit of the head of Chinese diplomacy, Wang Yi, to Washington to meet with Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who visited Beijing in June , and with national security advisor Jake Sullivan. Wang’s trip could set the stage for a meeting between Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden at a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in San Francisco in November.
Little by little, China and the United States are taking small steps to appease some of the many open fronts they have. Precisely, the last dismissed minister, Li Shangfu, was sanctioned by Washington for supervising the purchase of Russian Su-35 fighter jets and S-400 air defense missile systems.
The son of a high-ranking commander, Li fought under Mao Zedong during the civil war and also in the Korean War, supporting the Northern side. But Li was not a skilled soldier, but one of the best aerospace engineers of his generation. He worked at the PLA-controlled Xichang Satellite Launch Center. There he directed the launch of China’s first lunar probe and also the first test of anti-satellite missiles.
Nine years ago, rewarded for his achievements, he was promoted to general and chief of staff of the Strategic Support Force, an organization that was responsible for retiring old army commanders and moving the right pieces so that the largest fighting force of the world, rusty in many of its departments, will begin to modernize, starting with the acquisition of modern military equipment.
From Li’s time at the head of the agency that acquired military equipment, Chinese authorities announced in July that they had launched an investigation into “alleged violations” dating back to October 2017. The published notice mentioned the “active leak of secrets” and irregularities in the “bidding process for personal benefit.” The Financial Times newspaper, citing Washington security sources, said in September that Li was “under house arrest” as a result of the corruption investigation.