Since late August, the government official had not appeared in public.
Defence Minister Li Shangfu’s dismissal has been officially verified by the Chinese government, ending weeks of conjecture regarding the official’s whereabouts due to his protracted disappearance from the public eye.
According to national media, MPs in China’s upper house of parliament validated many personnel decisions during a meeting on Tuesday, including the dismissal of Li, who was also the country’s state councillor. There isn’t a substitute named yet.
Similar to Li, Qin Gang, the previous foreign minister, was also unexpectedly dismissed earlier this year after a protracted hiatus from public appearances. Chinese officials have not provided explanations for the decisions, occasionally informing reporters that the ministers were out sick but adamant that their departments were operating smoothly.
According to local media sources, Li was removed not only from the defence ministry but also from Beijing’s Central Military Commission, which is the People’s Liberation Army’s governing body.
Prior to being named defence minister, Li had a lengthy career in government, having worked on China’s space programme for almost thirty years and even serving as the commander of several lunar expeditions. In 2018, while leading a PLA equipment development unit, he was hit with secondary penalties by the US for having assisted Beijing in acquiring Su-35 fighter jets manufactured in Russia as well as equipment for the S-400 missile defence system.
After the former defence chief was last seen in public on August 29, it was revealed that Chinese authorities were looking into allegations of corruption against him, as reported by Reuters citing ten anonymous sources. The investigation apparently targeted eight other top officials from the same department and was connected to Li’s tenure at the equipment unit, according to the sources.
