5 Reasons for Xi Jinping’s Harsh Actions Against 2 Former Defense Ministers

Commentary

China’s military court last month handed down verdicts in the corruption cases of Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, both former Central Military Commission (CMC) members, state councilors, and defense ministers. They were sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, and all personal assets were confiscated. After the reprieve, their sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole or sentence reduction.

The sentences were reportedly the harshest ever imposed on senior People’s Liberation Army (PLA) generals amid Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign.

This article explores the five key truths behind this major event.

Xi’s Anti-Graft Campaign Proves to Be a Failure

Since Xi came to power, he has launched continuous anti-corruption campaigns under a declared policy of “zero tolerance.” Logically, after more than a decade, corruption should have decreased, officials should be too afraid to steal, and the system should be much cleaner.

The reality is the opposite: The more Xi tries to root out corruption, the worse it becomes.

In the military alone, during Xi’s first two terms (2012–2022), 160 senior generals were investigated, including seven full generals. In his third term so far, more than 100 senior generals have already been purged.

When the CCP’s 20th National Congress ended in 2022, there were more than 40 active-duty full generals. Today, without China fighting any war, almost the entire roster of active full generals has been wiped out. This includes five out of seven CMC members, the commanders and political commissars of all five Theater Commands, the heads of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Rocket Force, the commander of the People’s Armed Police, and the president and political commissar of the National Defense University.

Xi has earned a new nickname: “The General Slayer.” Foreign Affairs magazine even called him “Xi the Destroyer.”

The fact that so many top generals have been taken down in such a short time only proves how serious the corruption problem is—and how completely Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has failed.

The Result of Infighting for Power

The fall of Wei and Li—their expulsion from the Party and the military and their death sentences with reprieve—ultimately stems from a brutal power struggle within the CCP’s top leadership.

Soon after the CCP’s 20th National Congress, a fierce infight erupted among the military’s top brass: He Weidong, then the first vice chairman of the CMC, and Miao Hua, then the director of the CMC’s Political Work Department, on one side, and Zhang Youxia, then the first vice chairman of the CMC, and then Defense Minister Li Shangfu on the other.

With Xi’s backing, He and Miao took down Li and Wei. Their real goal was to remove Zhang Youxia so He could become the first vice chairman and Miao the second, forming a triumvirate of Xi, He, and Miao to control the military. This was the true reason for Li and Wei’s downfall.

Later, a cornered Zhang fought back, and He and Miao were taken down. Zhang was eventually purged by Xi as well.

All of them were involved in corruption. Their fall from grace, however, was never really about corruption.

The Warning Effect of Anti-Corruption Has Vanished

On the surface, sentencing Wei and Li to death with reprieve and lifelong imprisonment appears to be Xi using the heaviest punishment to warn the entire military. In reality, this tactic stopped working long ago.

As early as 2016, former Yunnan Party Secretary Bai Enpei was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve and lifelong imprisonment without parole—the first provincial-level official to receive this punishment under Xi. He was meant to serve as a warning.

Instead, many more senior officials received the same sentence later, including former Tianjin police chief Wu Changshun, Shaanxi Party Secretary Zhao Zhengyong, former Justice Minister Fu Zhenghua, and others. Some, such as former Huarong chairman Lai Xiaomin, were even executed.

Yet corruption continues to worsen. In 2025 alone, at least 31 officials caught in corruption cases each stole more than 100 million yuan ($14.6 million).

Xi Is Losing Authority

The biggest problem with Wei and Li was not economic corruption, but what the Chinese military’s official newspaper called “disloyalty” and being “two-hearted people.”

The real embarrassment for Xi is that he personally promoted both men.

Wei was the very first general Xi promoted to full general rank just eight days after Xi became CMC chairman in 2012. Xi later made him the founding commander of the Rocket Force—the strategic force meant to threaten Taiwan and the United States—and eventually defense minister. Wei was seen as the top figure in Xi’s own military faction.

Similarly, Xi promoted Li despite his being sanctioned by the United States, making him the defense minister in 2023.

If even the people Xi trusted most ended up “disloyal,” how can any general in the military truly be loyal to him? The severe punishment of Wei and Li is a public humiliation for Xi.

A Major Victory for US Intelligence Warfare

Internationally, the harsh punishment of Wei and Li may represent a significant victory for American intelligence.

Just two days after the CCP’s 20th National Congress closed in October 2022, the U.S. Air University’s China Aerospace Studies Institute released a massive 255-page report that essentially laid bare the entire structure of China’s Rocket Force—including base locations, unit functions, commanders’ names, organizational charts, and deployment maps across China.

The report shocked the Chinese leadership. The Rocket Force, which Xi had called the “core of China’s strategic deterrence,” was now an open book to the U.S. military.

He Weidong and Miao Hua immediately used this as ammunition to attack Wei Fenghe (the Rocket Force’s first commander) and Li Shangfu. Without firing a single shot, the United States helped trigger a massive purge of generals across the Rocket Force, equipment development departments, and major commands.

Concluding Thoughts

Xi has used anti-corruption primarily as a tool for political loyalty rather than for genuine clean governance, and none of the high-ranking officials he has taken down—especially the military officers—are truly loyal to him. On the contrary, they, their families, and their networks deeply resent him.

Every time Xi severely punishes a military officer, he creates more enemies. If he continues this way, it may eventually backfire on him.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.