According to state media on Tuesday, China announced the replacement of Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu amid conjecture about the official’s sudden absence from public view over two months ago.
According to state broadcaster CCTV, Li was reportedly kicked out of China’s Cabinet, the State Council, and the government’s power structure. There was no other information provided.
President Xi Jinping chose Li as defense minister in March. Since then, Li has not publicly appeared except for an August 29 speech at the Beijing China-Africa Peace and Security Forum.
Li is the second top Chinese official to vanish this year, the first being Qin Gang, the former foreign minister, who was fired in July without a reason.
Related Posts
Analysts and officials from other countries are wondering if Xi’s continuous attempts to restructure the Chinese Communist Party to strengthen his own authority and combat corruption are connected to the reported disappearances.
The ruling party is battling to revive an economy severely damaged by the harsh “zero-COVID” measures, an aging population, high unemployment among college graduates, and the exodus of many of its wealthiest and most educated members to more liberal societies abroad, in addition to dealing with what appear to be internal political issues.
Li is prohibited from visiting the United States due to penalties imposed by the government over his supervision of Russian arms acquisitions.
According to the State Department, Li bought supplies for S-400 surface-to-air missiles and Su-35 combat aircraft from a Russian company under sanctions.
Since then, China has severed ties with the US military, mainly as a protest over US arms supplies to Taiwan but also implicitly as a strong indication that Washington should remove the sanctions against Li, which Beijing will not publicly acknowledge.
