The Communist Party accused former military leaders Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli of factionalism and disloyalty, expelling them from the party and the armed forces following a Politburo meeting on Monday, state media reported.
Zhang was once a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the highest-ranking uniformed member of the Chinese military, second only to Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The CMC is China’s top military decision-making body.
Zhang was also a member of the party’s 24-member Politburo.
Liu was a CMC member as well and formerly served as chief of its Joint Staff Department.
They are among the most prominent figures brought down in the anti-corruption campaign within the People’s Liberation Army.
In a sternly worded read-out released on Monday, the two generals, who were placed under investigation on January 24, were accused of severe violations of party discipline and suspected of serious duty-related crimes.
“Investigation found that Zhang and Liu ... transgressed red lines and bottom lines,” according to the statement. “They severely violated political discipline and rules by forming cliques and factions, demonstrating disloyalty and dishonesty to the party.”
Their offences included “taking advantage of their positions to seek promotional benefits for others in exchange for huge amounts of money”, “accepting gifts and money in violation of regulations”, “failing to fulfil political responsibilities for full and rigorous self-governance of the party” and “failing to properly educate and restrain their relatives and close staff”, it added.
“Their political and economic infractions were intertwined, combining corruption and enrichment with dereliction of duty, involving exceptionally large sums of money, extremely severe circumstances and highly damaging impacts.”
Besides being expelled from the party and the PLA, Zhang and Liu had their qualifications as delegates to the 20th party congress terminated, the statement continued, with their cases transferred to military procuratorial bodies for legal review and prosecution.
The cases showed the Central Committee and the CMC’s determination to continue the fight against corruption, it said, “reaffirming the resolute stance that anti-corruption efforts in the military know no forbidden zones, allow no exceptions and tolerate zero corruption”.
“There can be no place for corrupt elements to hide within the armed forces,” the statement added.
In recent years, the massive anti-corruption campaign has seen the downfall of dozens of the PLA’s top brass.
Before Zhang and Liu, CMC members He Weidong, Li Shangfu and Miao Hua were also removed, leaving only Xi and Zhang Shengmin of the seven-member commission elected in 2022. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
