China's defence minister Li Shangfu faces corruption probe

A veteran of China’s military modernization campaign, General Li Shangfu, ascended through the ranks to become defence minister this year. He vanished six months later while a corruption investigation was ongoing.

During President Xi Jinping’s ten years in office, Li rose to prominence as China’s relations with the United States deteriorated over problems such as Taiwan, the island with democratically elected leaders that Beijing claims.

However, Xi’s efforts to strengthen his military have included eradicating corruption, which has long plagued China’s military and other state organisations.

Li, 65, was promoted to defence minister in March after serving as China’s chief of military procurement and a leader in the country’s development of space and cyber warfare.

Following his disappearance from the public eye last month and a string of missing appointments, including one with a foreign colleague, Reuters claimed on Friday that Li was the subject of a thorough inquiry into the purchase of military hardware.

Li is one of China’s five state councillors, a cabinet position that has greater authority than other ministers, despite the fact that his role as defence minister is primarily seen as diplomatic and ceremonial.

Additionally, he plays a more visible role than other members of China’s highest defence body, the Central Military Commission, which is led by Xi. His tenure in the position has been marked by his interactions with the United States, which sanctioned Li in 2018 for purchasing weaponry from Russia.

When Li took office, Washington was pressuring Beijing to resume military talks and communications that had been halted after Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, visited Taiwan the previous year.

Chinese authorities have frequently demanded that the United States lift its sanctions against Li in order to resume high-level military communications, a dangerous dynamic given the tense relations between Washington and Beijing over topics like trade and Taiwan.

At a prominent annual security summit in Singapore in June, Beijing turned down a US request for a meeting with Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. They shook hands to conclude their meeting.

Li said that a conflict with the United States would be a “unbearable disaster” but that China preferred discussion over violence.

He met senior officials in Belarus and Russia in the middle of August as a sign of solidarity for nations that the West had diplomatically isolated following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

On August 29, Li gave a keynote speech at a security meeting with African countries and was last spotted in Beijing.

According to observers, Li’s background as a technocrat—he is an aerospace engineer who worked on China’s satellite program—was useful in attempting to achieve Xi’s objectives for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

“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 James Char, a security scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

Li was appointed deputy commander of the newly formed Strategic Support Force of the PLA in 2016. This elite unit is entrusted with hastening the advancement of China’s space and cyber warfare capabilities.

He was later named director of the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department. Li was subject to sanctions because of the 2017 purchases of 10 Russian Su-35 combat aircraft and S-400 surface-to-air missile system accessories.

The agency announced its intention to “clean up” its bidding procedure in a highly uncommon move in July. When Li took over as its leader in October 2017, it asked the public to report any abnormalities going back to that time. He oversaw the department until October 2022.

Li’s time as a member of the Central Military Commission brought attention to his connections to Xi, who has tightened his control over the military. Some academics think Li is closely connected to Zhang Youxia, a close military buddy of Xi who Li succeeded as department director.

During the Communist Party Congress the previous year, Zhang was elevated to the position of first vice chairman of the military commission, and Li joined him on the commission’s seven-person governing body.

Analysts say there is definitely no shortage of senior military personnel who could fill the symbolic position of defence minister despite the uncertainty caused by Li’s absence. What emphasis Beijing will give to military diplomacy in the face of persistent regional tensions is a more pressing topic.

(With agency inputs)