How Xi’s ongoing battle against PLA corruption shapes China’s military future

Even for the anti-graft era of President Xi Jinping, the wave of investigations into alleged corruption in the Chinese military over the past three years has been exceptional.

Last month, nine senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) officers were expelled from the Communist Party and the military, including He Weidong, formerly China’s second-highest-ranking military officer.

They are accused of having “violated party discipline and allegedly committed serious crimes related to their duties” – both euphemisms for corruption.

“The amounts involved are particularly huge, the nature of the offences is extremely severe and the impact is exceptionally negative,” the defence ministry said.

He Weidong is the highest-ranking general to fall in the anti-corruption storm in recent years and the first serving member of the Politburo – the party’s inner circle – since 2017 to face an investigation while in office.

He is also the third general from the current Central Military Commission (CMC) – which started off with seven members in 2022 – to be disgraced.

Yet, there are signs all around that China’s hunt for corrupt generals is here to stay.