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The Star
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Star
Senior military official Miao Hua purged from top ruling body
TOP legislature has voted to remove senior military official Miao Hua from the Central Military Commission, its highest-level military command body, according to a statement published by Xinhua. Miao, 69, was put under investigation for 'serious violations of discipline' in November. The former political ideology chief of the People's Liberation Army was also suspended from his post. The Xinhua statement yesterday did not contain any other details, but the move marks another stage in President Xi Jinping's ongoing anti-corruption purge of China's military, in which over a dozen PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives have been implicated. Miao's photo had been removed from the senior leadership page of the Chinese defence ministry's website in recent weeks. He was also removed from China's national legislature for 'serious violations of discipline and law,' according to a communique released by the legislature last month. 'The Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission held a military representative conference on March 14 this year and decided to remove Miao Hua from his position as a representative of the 14th National People's Congress,' the statement said. Miao was stationed in the coastal province of Fujian when Xi worked there as a local official. Xi personally elevated Miao to the Central Military Commission. Another Central Military Commission member and China's second-ranking general, He Weidong, has not been seen in public since the March 11 closing ceremony of the annual parliamentary sessions in Beijing. Since then, he has not appeared at a series of high-level Politburo and military public engagements. He is the third-most powerful commander of the People's Liberation Army and is considered a close associate of Xi, who is also the army's commander- in-chief. China's defence ministry said in March that it was 'unaware' of reports he had been detained. His photo remains on the defence ministry's website. Two former Chinese defence ministers have been removed from the Communist Party for corruption. One of them, Li Shangfu, was suspected of corruption in military procurement. Last year, the defence ministry denied reports that Defence Minister Dong Jun was being probed on suspicion of corruption. Dong has continued to appear at public events, attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation defence ministers' meeting in Qingdao this week. — Reuters
Wall Street Journal
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
‘The Party's Interests Comes First' Review: First-Generation Revolutionary
Joseph Torigian, a young scholar of both Communist Chinese and Soviet politics, has written a masterly biography of Xi Zhongxun, the father of China's present-day president, Xi Jinping. 'The Party's Interests Come First' is a scrupulously researched and keenly perceptive account of an important but, in the West, little-known historical figure. Mr. Torigian's first book, 'Prestige, Manipulation, and Coercion' (2022), revealed the pathological court politics that prevailed after the deaths of Joseph Stalin in the U.S.S.R. and Mao Zedong in China. The successions of power that followed in these Leninist regimes weren't the result of policy differences, bargains to gain support and maneuvers within party rules, as is often assumed. Instead, Mr. Torigian shows, they were the outcomes of intrigue, battles over ideology, historical animosities and violence. The biography of Xi Zhongxun (1913-2002) expands on that theme. Xi was a revolutionary and, after the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, held several high-ranking party offices from the 1950s to the early 1990s. He was never the country's ruler, as his son has become, but Mr. Torigian's examination of the elder Xi's life affords important insights into China's opaque and mysterious Communist regime of the 21st century. Mr. Torigian, an associate professor at American University's School of International Service, traces Xi's career as it developed from the first phase of the Chinese Civil War, through World War II and the triumph of Mao and the Communists, to the post-Mao reforms and the tragedy of Tiananmen Square in 1989.
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Business Standard
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
China removes senior general, naval chief & top scientist in military
The purge of China's powerful defence and security establishment continued as top military officials, including a senior general, chief of navy and a nuclear scientist, were expelled from the national legislature on Friday. General Miao Hua along with Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), and Liu Shipeng, deputy chief engineer of China National Nuclear Corporation, have been removed from the National People's Congress (NPC), the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. Li is the latest of a string of PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives to have been implicated in a sweeping crackdown in the military, the Post reported. Both have been stripped of their membership of the legislature, the report said. State-run Xinhua news agency reported that the standing committee of the NPC, which concluded its session here on Friday, also voted to remove top General Miao Hua from his position as a member of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the overall high command of the Chinese military, headed by President Xi Jinping. Miao, the youngest general in the Chinese military hierarchy, has been under probe for serious violations of discipline since November last year. He was dismissed from the NPC in April this year. Miao was also director of the Political Work Department of the CMC, a role critical in managing Communist Party ideology and personnel changes within the People's Liberation Army (PLA). His career advanced significantly after Xi assumed power, leading to roles in the Chinese Navy as a political commissar and eventually becoming the PLA's youngest admiral. The defence ministry said Miao was being investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline, a phrase used as a euphemism for corruption. Since he took over power towards the end of 2012, 72-year-old Xi has carried out massive purges in the country's over two-million-strong military, removing or punishing dozens of senior generals for corruption and indiscipline. Those who were punished included two defence ministers as Xi consolidated his hold on the armed forces and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). Xi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of party loyalty among PLA officials to strengthen ideological control and support China's goal of becoming a military superpower. Miao is the second CMC member to be removed from his position since the current leadership took office in 2022.
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First Post
14 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
China expels PLA general, navy chief and nuclear scientist in sweeping anti-corruption purge
The purge of China's powerful defence and security establishment continued as top military officials, including a senior general, chief of navy and a nuclear scientist, were expelled from the national legislature on Friday. read more China's crackdown on its defence and security establishment intensified on Friday with the expulsion of several top military figures, including a senior general, the navy's chief of staff, and a nuclear industry official from the national legislature. According to the South China Morning Post, General Miao Hua, Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and Liu Shipeng and deputy chief engineer at China National Nuclear Corporation were removed from the National People's Congress (NPC). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Li is the most recent among several PLA generals and defence industry leaders to be caught up in the ongoing purge, the report said. The report also noted that both officials have lost their positions in the legislature. Separately, state news agency Xinhua reported that the NPC's standing committee, which wrapped up its session on Friday, voted to strip General Miao Hua of his membership in the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top command body of China's military, led by President Xi Jinping. Miao, the youngest general in the Chinese military hierarchy, has been under probe for serious violations of discipline since November last year. He was dismissed from the NPC in April this year. Miao was also director of the Political Work Department of the CMC, a role critical in managing Communist Party ideology and personnel changes within the People's Liberation Army (PLA). His career advanced significantly after Xi assumed power, leading to roles in the Chinese Navy as a political commissar and eventually becoming the PLA's youngest admiral. The defence ministry said Miao was being investigated for suspected serious violations of discipline, a phrase used as a euphemism for corruption. Since he took over power towards the end of 2012, 72-year-old Xi has carried out massive purges in the country's over two-million-strong military, removing or punishing dozens of senior generals for corruption and indiscipline. Those who were punished included two defence ministers as Xi consolidated his hold on the armed forces and the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Xi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of party loyalty among PLA officials to strengthen ideological control and support China's goal of becoming a military superpower. Miao is the second CMC member to be removed from his position since the current leadership took office in 2022. With inputs from agencies
Yomiuri Shimbun
16 hours ago
- Business
- Yomiuri Shimbun
China Accepting Thousands of North Korean Workers, Sources Say; Move Believed to Be Aimed at Improving China-North Korea Ties
SHENYANG, China — China has been accepting thousands of workers from North Korea since the beginning of this year, according to sources familiar with China-North Korea relations. The United Nations Security Council prohibits the provision of work authorizations for North Korean nationals under its sanction measures, and China is believed to have violated these sanctions. Chinese President Xi Jinping's administration has apparently been trying to secure cheap labor amid the country's economic turndown while attempting to improve relations with North Korea. According to the sources, about 3,000 North Korean workers arrived in Hunchun, Jilin Province, by March, and about 500 arrived in Dandong, Liaoning Province, in May. Most of them are young women who have been sent to work at garment factories and seafood processing plants in these northeastern provinces bordering North Korea. Acceptance of such workers have been discussed in other regions. The sources said it was 'unlikely that local governments would unilaterally accept [such] workers.' In 2017, the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea, prohibiting member states from providing work authorizations to North Korean nationals in principle. The sanctions were imposed on the grounds that the money the workers earned would be used to fund Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development. The resolution obliged member states to repatriate North Korean nationals by December 2019. In China, the return of the North Korean workers to their country began in earnest in summer 2023, after travel between the two countries became possible following the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, the Xi administration has been cautious about accepting new workers. Last year marked the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and North Korea, but few related events were held, and the relationship was said to have cooled. Some viewed China's reluctance to accept workers from North Korea as one of the reasons for this. China may have moved to improve relations with North Korea following U.S. President Donald Trump's positive stance regarding dialogue with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in addition to North Korea becoming closer with Russia.
