China has announced suspended death sentences for two former defence ministers, the latest development in a broad anti-corruption campaign targeting the country's highest military ranks, according to reporting by the BBC.
The sentences were handed down to Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, both of whom served as defence ministers under President Xi Jinping before being removed from their posts. A suspended death sentence in China's legal system typically means the condemned is not immediately executed and, in practice, is often commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year review period.
A pattern of high-level dismissals
The verdicts come amid a significant reshaping of China's military leadership. Both Wei and Li were dismissed from their roles before formal investigations were announced, a sequence that has become familiar under Xi's continued drive to root out corruption within the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
Wei Fenghe served as defence minister from 2018 to 2023. Li Shangfu succeeded him but was removed after holding the position for less than a year, having been in office for only about seven months before his dismissal was made public in late 2023.
The removals extended beyond the two ministers. Several senior commanders, including figures overseeing China's rocket forces - the branch responsible for the country's nuclear and conventional missile arsenal - were also ousted around the same period, signalling the scale of the campaign within the military.
Charges and proceedings
Both men were expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and faced charges related to bribery. The legal proceedings against such high-profile figures are conducted largely out of public view, and detailed accounts of the evidence or trial proceedings are not made available by Chinese authorities.
Suspended death sentences for senior officials found guilty of serious corruption are not unprecedented in China. Former senior figures in both government and state enterprises have received similar verdicts in past cases, with many ultimately serving life sentences rather than facing execution.
Context within Xi's anti-corruption drive
Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign shortly after coming to power in 2012, and it has since ensnared hundreds of thousands of officials across the party, military, and state institutions. Critics and some outside analysts have argued that the campaign has also served to consolidate Xi's political control by removing potential rivals, though Chinese authorities maintain it is a genuine effort to strengthen governance and public trust.
The sentencing of two former defence ministers within a short period represents one of the more striking episodes of the campaign to date, given the seniority of the positions involved and the access to state secrets and military decision-making they entailed.
