Chinese navy chief of staff and nuclear scientist expelled from top legislature

The Chinese navy’s chief of staff and a top nuclear scientist have been stripped of their membership of the country’s legislature.

Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, and Liu Shipeng, deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation, have been expelled from the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Li is the latest of a string of PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives to have implicated in a sweeping crackdown in the military.

In a statement on Friday, the NPC Standing Committee said: “The Navy Servicemen’s Congress decided to dismiss Li Hanjun from his position as a representative of the 14th National People’s Congress.”

The people’s congress of Gansu also dismissed Liu Shipeng as an NPC deputy, it added.

In addition, the Standing Committee said it voted to remove Miao Hua, a former top general who previously oversaw the PLA’s ideology work, from the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top military command body led by President Xi Jinping.