Li Shangfu – the public face of China’s military – under corruption probe

BEIJING - General Li Shangfu, a veteran of China’s military modernisation drive, rose through the ranks to become defence minister in 2023.

Within six months, he

disappeared under the cloud of a corruption probe.

Gen Li grew to prominence under President Xi Jinping’s pursuit of military might during his decade in power while China’s relations with the United States soured over issues including Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province to be reunified, by force if necessary.

But part of Mr Xi’s drive to improve his fighting force has been to stamp out corruption that has long plagued China’s military and other state institutions.

A leader of China’s space and cyber-warfare development, and then head of military procurement, Gen Li, 65, was elevated to defence minister in March.

After he disappeared from public view in August and missed meetings, including with at least one foreign counterpart, Reuters reported last Friday that Gen Li was under investigation in a broad probe over the procurement of military equipment.

Reuters could not ascertain what purchases were under scrutiny.

China’s Defence Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman told reporters last Friday that she was not aware of the situation.

While his post as defence minister is viewed as largely diplomatic and ceremonial, Gen Li is one of China’s five state councillors, a Cabinet position that outranks other ministers.

He also has a more public role than others on the Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s top defence body, which is commanded by Mr Xi.

His relations with the US, which sanctioned Gen Li in 2018 for buying weapons from Russia, have defined his spell in the role.

Gen Li’s tenure began as Washington was pushing to restore military dialogue and communications that Beijing froze in reaction to a visit to Taiwan in 2022 by then US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Chinese officials have repeatedly said the US should drop sanctions against Gen Li if it wants to resume high-level military communications – a risky dynamic as Washington and Beijing spar over issues ranging from trade to Taiwan.

In June, Beijing

declined a US request for a meeting with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin

at a high-profile annual security forum in Singapore. Their encounter ended with a handshake.

At the forum, Gen Li warned that conflict with the US would be an “unbearable disaster”, but that China sought dialogue over confrontation.

In mid-August, he met high-ranking officials in Russia and Belarus, a show of support for countries diplomatically isolated by the West in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

He was last seen in Beijing on Aug 29 delivering a keynote address at a security forum with African nations.

His history as a technocrat – he is an aerospace engineer who worked on China’s satellite programme – was helpful in trying to meet Mr Xi’s goals for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), experts say.

“The operational and technological background of the next Chinese defence minister is especially pertinent, given that the PLA aims to become a world-class military by 2049,” said Dr James Char, a security scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

In 2016, Gen Li was named deputy commander of the PLA’s fledgling Strategic Support Force, an elite group tasked with accelerating the development of China’s space and cyber-warfare capabilities.

He was then appointed head of the Equipment Development Department of the CMC. He was sanctioned over the purchase of 10 Russian Su-35 combat aircraft in 2017 and equipment related to the S-400 surface-to-air missile system.

In July, the department took the highly unusual step of issuing a notice that it was looking to “clean up” its bidding process.

It invited the public to report irregularities dating back to October 2017, when Gen Li was at its helm. He ran the unit until October 2022.

Gen Li’s term at the CMC highlighted his ties to Mr Xi, who has strengthened his grip across the military.

Some scholars believe Gen Li has close ties to General Zhang Youxia, a close military ally of Mr Xi, whom Gen Li replaced as head of the department.

Gen Zhang was promoted to first vice-chairman of the military commission during the Communist Party Congress in 2022, with Gen Li following him onto the commission’s seven-person governing group.

Despite the uncertainty of Gen Li’s absence, analysts say there is probably no shortage of senior military officials who could step into the figurehead role of defence minister.

A bigger question is what priority Beijing will continue to place on China’s military diplomacy amid ongoing regional tensions. REUTERS