Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, promoted just last March, at the beginning of Xi Jinping's third presidential term, has been missing for two weeks . According to the Financial Times, he is the subject of an investigation and for this reason he has been relieved of his duties.
His is the second "excellent" head to fall after that of Foreign Minister Qin Gang.
According to what has already been reported by the Chinese Ministry of Defense, Beijing launched a corruption investigation against senior officials of its missile unit in July, firing Li Yuchao and Liu Guangbin, the heads of the Rocket Force. A move that decapitated the elite division established in 2016, which is also in charge of nuclear warheads, creating - as ANSA learned - discontent among the military. Xi had already surprisingly ousted Foreign Minister Qin Gang from office in July, after disappearing from the public scene for a month.
Li Shangfu was appointed to the Central Military Commission in October 2022 and became Defense Minister on March 12.
There has been no news of him since he gave a speech at the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum in Beijing on August 29, publicized by the ministry itself. The precise charges against him are not known, but his case demonstrates, according to international observers, that decision-making processes in China are becoming increasingly cloudy and completely unpredictable.
(Unioneonline/D)