China’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign within its military and defense sectors escalated sharply on Friday, as the National People’s Congress (NPC) expelled several high-ranking officials, including General Miao Hua, Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, and nuclear scientist Liu Shipeng.
The decision, confirmed by state media and reported by the South China Morning Post, marks another wave in President Xi Jinping’s long-running effort to tighten ideological control and root out corruption within the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and defense industry.
General Miao Hua, formerly director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and a close political ally of Xi, was also stripped of his CMC membership—the top military command body chaired by Xi himself. Miao had previously served as the political commissar of the Chinese Navy and rose to prominence after Xi came to power in 2012. He has been under investigation since November 2024 for “serious violations of discipline,” a common euphemism for corruption in official Chinese discourse.
Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the PLA Navy, and Liu Shipeng, deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation, were also expelled from the NPC, signaling broader scrutiny across military and strategic scientific domains.
The NPC Standing Committee, which concluded its session on Friday, formalized the removals, with state-run Xinhua confirming that all three officials had lost their legislative positions. Li Hanjun is the latest among several senior officers to face expulsion, as the Communist Party tightens internal discipline and oversight over the armed forces and related industries.
Since Xi began his leadership in late 2012, over a hundred senior officers and officials have been punished or removed as part of an expansive anti-graft effort that has included two former defense ministers. Analysts view this ongoing purge as part of Xi’s strategy to consolidate authority and ensure complete party loyalty among military leaders, especially as China seeks to project itself as a rising military superpower on the global stage.
The latest expulsions further highlight growing internal unease within China’s defense hierarchy amid mounting external challenges and heightened geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific region.
