Then-Chinese State Councilor and Minister of National Defence General Li Shangfu gestures before delivering his speech during a plenary session of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Shangri-la Dialogue at the Shangri-la hotel in Singapore, on June 4, 2023. On Thursday, he was given a suspended death sentence for bribery. File Photo by How Hwee Young/EPA-EFE
Two former Chinese defense officials were given suspended death sentences Thursday after being found guilty of bribery, state-run media reported.
The military court gave Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu a two-year reprieve, which means after that time period, their death sentences will be commuted to life in prison with no possibility of parole, the BBC reported, citing China’s state-run Xinhua.
Both men were generals when they accepted bribes. Li also gave bribes, The New York Times reported.
The two men were convicted as part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption in the military. About 100 senior officers have lost their jobs or been disappeared amid investigations, the Center for Strategic and International Studies said.
Former CIA analyst Christopher Johnson told the Times in January that the ouster of the military’s top brass shows that Xi no longer trusts his longtime commanders and allies. Instead, he’s seeking to make room for younger officers.
Andrew Nien-Dzu Yang, a Chinese military expert and former employee of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, told the Times that Xi’s crackdown is likely about corruption but also a “political tactic.”
“Putting these two senior military leaders under a suspended sentence to death can be used to justify the tightening control of the armed forces under Xi Jinping,” Yang said.
