The ruling Chinese Communist Party took action this week against two former senior leaders who disappeared suddenly several months ago, as part of an apparent political purge by President Xi Jinping.
Former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, once considered a rising party star who disappeared from public view in June, was removed from the party’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress, state media reported on Tuesday.
According to a notice from the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, the Tianjin Municipal People’s Congress received Mr. Qin’s resignation as a delegate to an upcoming annual parliamentary meeting, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Separately, former Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu has been removed from a seat on the CCP’s most powerful military structure, the Central Military Commission, the Defense Ministry disclosed on its website this week. The ministry website as of Tuesday no longer listed Gen. Li as a member of the commission.
It is not clear when the change was made, and he had been listed on the site as a commission member as recently as last week, according to news reports from Asia.
Gen. Li disappeared from public view in late August and two months later was fired without explanation as defense minister and state councilor during a meeting of the National People’s Congress in October. He had held the post for only a short period.
The Central Military Commission is the ruling party’s military command structure and is headed by Mr. Xi and two military vice chairmen.
State media has remained silent on Gen. Li’s ouster, which followed a series of firings of senior military leaders, including a number involved in the oversight of the country’s strategic nuclear forces.
A total of nine senior People’s Liberation Army officer were removed from the NPC in December, allegedly for corruption. The corruption accusation is a tool that analysts say has been used by Mr. Xi to purge potential political rivals and cement his hold on power after securing an unprecedented third five-year term as president and party chairman in 2023.
Removal from the NPC is often a first step in punitive action against party and state personnel. NPC members enjoy immunity from prosecution which is lost upon removal from the legislature. Gen. Li, unlike Mr. Qin, remains a member of the National People’s Congress, and also remains on the powerful 205-member CCP Central Committee.
Gen. Li’s replacement, Defense Minister Adm. Dong Jun, has yet to be given the title of state councilor or membership in the Central Military Commission, a post all previous defense ministers held.
Mr. Qin, the former foreign minister, was in office for seven months before disappearing and eventually being removed in a surprise action. He was replaced as foreign minister by Wang Yi, a more senior party official who also held the minister post in the past.
Mr. Qin is no longer listed as a member of the government State Council on websites. It is not clear whether he has been removed from the Communist Party or remains on the Central Committee.
Under Mr. Xi, the party has tightened control over politics in the country under the guise of an anti-corruption drive that has led to scores of officials being purged. Some analysts suspect the removal of Gen. Li and Mr. Qin is part of the current security crackdown on foreign national security threats.
• Bill Gertz can be reached at bgertz@washingtontimes.com.