BEIJING (AP) — China has suspended a high-ranking military official while he is being investigated, its Defense Ministry announced Thursday.
The official, Miao Hua, is director of the Political Work Department on the powerful Central Military Commission that oversees the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). He is one of five members of the body that oversees the world’s largest standing military, in addition to China’s leader Xi Jinping, who heads the commission.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said Miao is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline,” which usually alludes to issues of corruption.
It is the third recent major shakeup for China’s defense establishment. In June, China announced that former Defense Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe were accused of corruption and expelled from the party. They were being investigated for corruption and bribery, after initially facing suspension.
Miao being placed under investigation comes after the Financial Times reported that Defense Minister Dong Jun was under investigation for corruption.
Miao’s position on the commission, which is a Communist Party committee, outranks Dong and anyone who holds the position of defense minister, as Communist Party positions are more powerful than government institutions in China.
Miao has come up through the political department in the military and had served as the political commissar of the PLA’s Navy. He was already fairly senior before Xi came to power in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu, said Dong was not under any investigation and called the newspaper report a “sheer fabrication.”
In response to a question about who China’s defense minister was, Wu smiled and raised his hands in a shrug.
“Why do you ask this nonsensical question? I just said this many times: Minister Dong Jun.”
