China expelled two former Communist Party defense ministers and launched corruption investigations into them, the latest crackdown sweeping the world’s largest military.

The unprecedented move against Wei Fenghe and his successor Li Shangfu followed a meeting of the party’s 24-man Politburo, the highest political body of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, state news agency Xinhua reported. 

The announcement came on the heels of the abrupt dismissal of Li, Beijing’s shortest-serving defense minister.

Li was fired in October, just seven months after he became defense minister. He mysteriously disappeared at the end of August without explanation and was stripped of his titles as state councilor, an odd move because officials from the CCP’s inner circle are rarely, if ever, removed. 

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Wei held the post from 2018 to 2023 and, similar to Li, was accused of accepting bribes.

Li and Wei were expelled by the party’s leadership for “serious violation of party discipline and the law,” Chinese state news agencies announced early Thursday.

Little is known about the whereabouts of Li and Wei.  

Both men will face criminal prosecution according to the report. It is the first time in the history of the People’s Liberation Army that corruption investigations into two defense ministers have been made public on the same day, according to the South China Morning Post. 

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Their ousting from the CCP follows a military purge as tensions between the United States and China continue to simmer over President Xi Jinping’s attempts at a power grab as well as escalations in the South China Sea and over the fate of Taiwan. 

Xi said in June there were “deep-seated problems” in the Chinese military’s politics, ideology, work style and discipline. He has promised a corruption crackdown. 

“There must be no hiding place for corrupt elements in the army,” state-run China Central Television quoted Xi saying. 

In August, Xi announced a major shake-up of the country’s nuclear and missile arsenal when he replaced two top generals.

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Four months later, he ousted nine senior military officers from the national legislative body.

Last July, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, once believed to be a protege of Xi, was removed from his post after he disappeared from public view for a month. Qin was stripped of his title in October.