China’s defense minister Dong Jun has been placed under investigation for alleged graft, British daily Financial Times reported on Wednesday, quoting U.S. sources.
If confirmed, Dong would be the third consecutive minister of defense to be investigated for corruption, after Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, in what seems to be a wider anti-graft operation across the top ranks of the Chinese military.
The newspaper quoted current and former U.S. officials familiar with the situation as saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping was “conducting a wave of investigations” into the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, but it remained unclear what kind of corruption allegations Dong was facing.
China’s embassy in Washington declined to comment on the news.
A former admiral and commander of the Chinese navy, Dong was appointed minister of national defense in December 2023, replacing Li Shangfu who was removed in October 2023 after just seven months in office.
The last time Dong appeared in public was on Nov. 21 when he attended the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus in Vientiane, Laos.
While holding talks with the defense chiefs of New Zealand, India, and Malaysia, as well as the ASEAN Secretary-General, Dong refused a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Beijing blamed it on Washington for undermining China’s “core interests” by providing weapons to Taiwan.
Wider probe
A native of Shandong province from where Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan also hails, Dong – as well as his predecessor Li Shangfu – was believed to be appointed by Xi.
Yet “Dong was not promoted to the Central Military Commission, the top military leadership of the Communist Party, nor was he appointed to the State Council, or the national cabinet,” political analyst Willy Lam told Radio Free Asia, while cautioning that one should be careful not to speculate too much over the alleged investigation.
In China, defense ministers are usually members of both those bodies and Dong’s non-appointment had raised questions about his position.
The FT quoted U.S. military officers and officials as suggesting that such investigations into the PLA’s top officials “were undermining Xi’s confidence in his military” and raising doubts about its capabilities.
Lyle Morris, senior fellow at the Asia Society’s Center for China Analysis, wrote on X that in his opinion, “this is not a normal shake-up” and more purges are coming.
Former ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe were expelled from the Communist Party for “grave discipline violations” such as taking bribes and causing great damage to the images of the party and its senior leaders, according to official statements.
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Since Li’s sacking from the defense chief’s post last October, there was a series of restructurings at high levels of the Chinese military establishment.
Just after Dong was appointed, China expelled nine military officials from its parliament, including three former commanders or vice commanders of the PLA Rocket Force, one former Air Force chief and one Navy commander responsible for the South China Sea.
Analysts said they believed that the expulsions were related to the corruption over equipment procurement by the rocket force.
Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.