Why China has given suspended death sentences to ex-defence ministers Wei Fenghe, Li Shangfu

China has sentenced two of its former defence ministers to death with a two-year reprieve. Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were handed suspended death sentences over corruption charges, as per state media.

A military court on Thursday (May 7) announced the sentence, two years after the men were expelled from the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for "serious violations of discipline", a euphemism for corruption. Wei and Li were found guilty of bribery.

Let’s take a closer look.

China’s suspended death sentence for ex-defence ministers

Former Chinese defence ministers Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were handed suspended death sentences over graft charges, Reuters reported, citing state news agency Xinhua.

In China, the death penalty with a two-year reprieve is usually commuted to life imprisonment if the offender commits no crimes during the reprieve period. After this, they will be imprisoned for life without the possibility of sentence reduction or parole.

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The personal assets of both the former defence ministers were confiscated after they were found guilty.

Wei, Li and their ‘crimes’

Wei Fenghe served as China’s defence minister from 2018 to 2023. He was succeeded by Li Shangfu, who was sacked from his job in October 2023, just seven months after his appointment.

Li was not seen in public for nearly two months before he was fired. His disappearance and ouster came following the surprise dismissal of two top generals of the PLA Rocket Force, an elite unit overseeing China’s nuclear and ballistic missiles.

Li was put under the military’s internal investigation over “serious violations of party discipline and law” on August 31, 2023, reported state broadcaster CCTV.

The then Chinese Defence Minister Li Shangfu salutes before delivering his speech on the last day of the 20th International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue, in Singapore, on June 4, 2023. File Photo/AP

Both the former ministers were members of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Chinese leader Xi Jinping heads the armed forces as the leader of the powerful CMC.

In June 2024, Li and his predecessor, Wei, were expelled from the Communist Party.

This came after a meeting of the CCP’s powerful Politburo of senior leaders to review Li’s case. They ruled that Li had “betrayed his original mission and lost his party spirit and principles”, reported CCTV.

Li, China’s shortest-serving defence minister, was alleged to have “seriously polluted the political environment and industrial ethos in the field of military equipment, and caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and the construction of the armed forces”.

For decades, he had worked for the Equipment Development Department, which monitors military procurement.

Li was accused of bribery, “taking advantage of his position and taking huge sums of money to seek benefits for others … and giving money to others to seek inappropriate benefits”, as per the report.

Wei was also accused of serious violations of the rules by accepting money and gifts and misusing his post to seek benefits for others in exchange for money and valuables, Xinhua reported.

Wei became the head of the PLA’s Second Artillery Corps in 2012. He continued in this role to helm the key part of China's nuclear arsenal following its restructuring to become the rocket force in 2015, as per South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Corruption investigations were launched into both Li and Wei in June 2024. They were also stripped of their positions as generals and membership of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

This was the first time in PLA’s history that corruption investigations into two defence ministers were revealed in public on the same day.

As per the Xinhua report, the actions of the two ex-defence ministers had “betrayed the trust of the party’s central leadership and the CMC … and caused great damage to the party’s cause, national defence and the construction of the PLA, as well as to the image of the senior leading cadres”.

“It was of an extremely serious nature, with an extremely bad impact and extremely great harm,” the report said.

Xi’s military purge

China’s Xi has made the fight against corruption a trademark of his rule since assuming power in 2012. The armed forces have become the main target of the Chinese leader’s crackdown on corruption.

Earlier this year, top PLA general Zhang Youxia, who was a Politburo member seen as an ally of Xi, was removed.

Zhang, along with Liu Zhenli, both CMC members, came under investigation for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”, meaning corruption.

As per Al Jazeera, insiders have alleged a widespread purge of officers suspected of collaborating with outside forces or just being insufficiently loyal to Xi.

In February, the Chinese president made a rare public reference to the military crackdown, saying that the army had "undergone revolutionary tempering in the fight against corruption".

Last October, China accused the nine generals expelled from the Communist Party, including CMC vice-chairman He Weidong, of being “disloyal” and losing their “chastity”. An editorial in the military mouthpiece PLA Daily further accused them of “a total collapse of their beliefs” as party members.

The editorial also referred to the toxic legacy left by sacked generals Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou. Guo, former CMC vice-chair, was given a life sentence for bribery in 2016. Xu, who was detained for bribery in 2014, died of cancer a year later.

With inputs from agencies