China Sentences Former Defense Ministers To Death Over Corruption Scandal

China has sentenced two former Defense Ministers to death with a two-year reprieve in what are calling the most severe punishment handed to senior military officials since President Xi Jinping launched his sweeping anti-corruption campaign in 2012.

Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were both sentenced by a Chinese military court on Thursday. Wei was convicted of accepting bribes, while Li was convicted of both accepting and offering bribes. Both were also stripped of their political rights for life and had all personal property confiscated.

Li served as China’s Defense Minister from March to October 2023, making him the country’s shortest-serving defense minister. Wei preceded him in the role, serving from 2018 to 2023.

The two men were expelled from the ruling Communist Party in 2024 for what officials described as “serious violations of discipline,” a standard euphemism for corruption. Both were also former members of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees the military.

Under Chinese law, the suspended death sentences are effectively a path to life imprisonment. After the two-year reprieve period, their sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment, with no possibility of further commutation or parole.

The Xinhua statement announcing the sentences did not specify the amounts of bribes involved in either case.

The verdicts mark a dramatic escalation in Xi Jinping’s ongoing purge of the People’s Liberation Army, which has seen dozens of senior military figures investigated in recent years over graft tied to weapons procurement and military modernisation contracts.