Top China PLA Air Force duo miss key military event led by Xi as corruption fight rolls on

 Two top PLA Air Force officers have become the latest military brass to miss a key political event, as the anti-corruption campaign in the Chinese military continues unabated.

Footage broadcast by state television CCTV indicated that General Chang Dingqiu and Guo Puxiao, Air Force commander and political commissar, respectively, were not present at a ceremony on Monday to fill top-level vacancies caused by the sweeping crackdown.

The event in Beijing was led by President Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the top command body for China’s armed forces.

Chang, 58, has long been viewed as a rising military star on a fast track to promotion. He was for many years the youngest officer at his rank, including when he was promoted to Air Force commander in August 2021 at age 54.

Chang’s profile on the Chinese search engine Baidu has been inaccessible since last week.

Beijing has made no statement on Chang’s status. His last public appearance was in October, in official coverage of the fourth plenary session for the sitting Central Committee of the Communist Party. He attended as a full member of the committee, which is China’s top policymaking body.

The absence of Chang recalls those of other PLA generals, including the commanders of the PLA ground force and the navy, both of whom have not been seen in public for months and also missed October’s party conclave.

Ground force commander Li Qiaoming and navy commander Hu Zhongming were among the 17 military officers absent from the fourth plenum, according to CCTV footage. The duo remain full members of the Central Committee and have not been publicly targeted by the anti-corruption watchdog.

Monday’s ceremony was the first of its kind all year, signalling that the military command was starting to fill vacancies left by the massive corruption crackdown, which had seen dozens of generals abruptly removed.

Yang Zhibin and Han Shengyan, commander and political commissar of the Eastern and Central Theatre Command, respectively, were promoted at the ceremony by Xi to the rank of full general, the highest active-duty rank in the PLA.

Senior leadership promotions have slowed markedly, with the CMC holding four such ceremonies in 2023 and only three in 2024. All top generals in active duty are expected to attend.

Multiple senior PLA officers have been sacked over the past two years under an intensified anti-corruption campaign. Among the most high-profile dismissals was that of He Weidong, a former CMC vice-chairman and member of the 24-man Politburo – the party’s top decision-making body.

Other top generals to have fallen from grace include Miao Hua, once the PLA’s ideological and personnel chief, and two former defence ministers – Wei Fenghe and his successor Li Shangfu – both placed under investigation in 2023.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3337636/top-pla-air-force-duo-miss-key-military-event-led-xi-corruption-fight-rolls