A member of China’s powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said on Thursday.
Miao Hua (苗華) was director of the political work department on the commission, which oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest standing military. He was one of five members of the commission in addition to its leader, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Ministry spokesman Colonel Wu Qian (吳謙) said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to corruption.
Photo: KCNA via Reuters
It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. China in June announced that former Chinese minister of national defense Li Shangfu (李尚福) and his predecessor, Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和), had been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and accused of corruption.
Yet, the high-level investigation is not likely to have any significant consequences, given Xi’s tight grip on power.
“Most countries would incur at least some reputational cost to their international reputation were such frequent, high-profile personnel purges to have happened in their own armed forces, but the PRC [People’s Republic of China] is no ordinary country,” James Char, a research fellow at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said in an e-mail. “These purges can go on so long as its commander-in-chief approves of them.”
In Xi’s first term as party secretary, he was known for a multiyear campaign against corruption that has brought down numerous high-profile political rivals and thousands of officials. This has led some to allege a widespread purge of officers suspected of conspiring with outside forces or simply being insufficiently loyal to Xi.
The president’s dedication to his anti-corruption campaign has continued throughout his rule. High-ranking officers occupy an elevated position in Chinese politics and can command extensive privileges, official and unofficial.
Miao being placed under investigation comes after the Financial Times reported that Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) was under investigation for corruption.
Miao’s position on the commission outranks Dong and anyone who holds the position of defense minister, as Chinese Communist Party positions are more powerful than government institutions in China.
Experts say a possible corruption investigation would not be a surprise, given the PLA’s history.
In the 1990s, the PLA was allowed to run businesses as the nation opened up during the “reform and opening up” period, when the country stopped many of its planned economic policies and transitioned to a more market-based economy.
Miao has come up through the political department in the military and had served as the political commissar of the PLA Navy. He was already fairly senior before Xi came to power in 2012.
“If the investigation is about corruption, it’s not out of line with people’s expectations,” said Yen Tiehlin (閻鐵麟), deputy director at the Taiwan Center for Security Studies, who studies the PLA. “It’s very difficult for anyone not to have have blemishes if you were a mid-level or senior cadre in the 1990s.”
Wu said that Dong was not under any investigation and called the newspaper report a “sheer fabrication.”
In response to a question about who the defense minister was, Wu smiled and raised his hands in a shrug.
“Why do you ask this nonsensical question? I just said this many times: Minister Dong Jun,” he said.
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