Beijing: The purge of China’s powerful defence and security establishment intensified on Friday, as the chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, and a top nuclear scientist, Liu Shipeng, were expelled from the country’s national legislature.

According to the South China Morning Post, based in Hong Kong, both Li and Liu, who serves as deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation, have been stripped of their membership in the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Li is the latest in a growing list of PLA generals and defence industry executives to become entangled in what the Post described as a sweeping crackdown within China’s military ranks.

Top General Miao Hua removed from Central Military Commission

In a related development, state-run Xinhua news agency reported that the NPC’s standing committee, which concluded its session in Beijing on Friday, also voted to remove General Miao Hua from his post as a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top command body of the Chinese military, led by President Xi Jinping.

Miao, the youngest general within the Chinese military hierarchy, has been under investigation since November last year for “serious violations of discipline,” a phrase commonly used as a euphemism for corruption. He was already dismissed from the NPC in April.

Miao’s rise and fall in the Xi Jinping era

Miao had served as director of the Political Work Department of the CMC, a position considered pivotal in overseeing Communist Party ideology and managing personnel changes within the PLA.

His rapid rise through the ranks began after Xi Jinping assumed power, eventually becoming a political commissar in the Chinese Navy and later the PLA’s youngest admiral.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that Miao is being investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline.

Xi Jinping’s crackdown on military corruption continues

Since taking power in late 2012, Xi, now 72, has launched an extensive campaign to root out corruption and enforce discipline within the PLA, which has over two million personnel. Dozens of senior generals have either been removed or punished as part of this effort.

Those penalised include two former defence ministers, as Xi continues to consolidate his authority over both the military and the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The Chinese president has consistently stressed the need for absolute party loyalty among PLA officials, aiming to reinforce ideological control and push forward China’s ambitions to become a global military superpower.

Miao is the second member of the Central Military Commission to be removed since the current leadership took office in 2022.

(PTI inputs)