Senior Chinese Military Official Under Investigation for Corruption

The investigation into Adm. Miao Hua signals that the CCP leader has begun to purge those close to him, analysts say.

Adm. Miao Hua (C), China's director of the political affairs department of the Central Military Commission, disembarks his aircraft after arriving at Pyongyang International Airport in North Korea on Oct. 14, 2019. Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has suspended Adm. Miao Hua from his position on a power commission overseeing the country’s armed forces, the defense ministry announced on Nov. 28, marking the latest in a series of senior military officials caught up in the Party’s anti-corruption campaign.

Miao, who served as the director of the political work department of the core Central Military Commission, is under investigation on suspicion of “serious violations of discipline,” the defense ministry’s spokesperson, Senior Col. Wu Qian, announced at a regular briefing in Beijing. For the communist regime, this term is an official euphemism for corruption.

The authorities have decided to suspend Miao from his duty following the review, Wu added, without providing further details about the investigation.

The abrupt shake-up has raised eyebrows among political analysts, as Miao is widely viewed as a key member of the Minjiang army, a political faction loyal to the regime’s top leader, Xi Jinping. This group comprises more than a dozen officials and military brass who worked with Xi during his rise to the top job.

“[Miao’s] downfall signals that [Xi] is even beginning to purge those close to him,” said Kung Shan-Son, an expert on China’s politics at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), a Taipei-based think tank that is funded by the Taiwanese government.

“Xi is now leaning on an anti-corruption campaign as a tool to tighten his grip on the People’s Liberation Army,” Kung told The Epoch Times.

Since last summer, the Chinese regime has officially fired more than a dozen senior military officials and defense industry executives, including those commanding the Rocket Force, a military unit overseeing the nation’s conventional and nuclear missiles.

One of the highest-ranking officials who has fallen from grace is former Defense Minister Li Shangfu, who was removed from his post in October 2023 following two months of unexplained disappearance. In June this year, the CCP expelled Li and his predecessor, accusing them of abusing their powers and accepting massive bribes, state media said at the time.

The sweeping shake-ups across senior military ranks have fueled speculation about political infighting within the military leadership. Many observers have interpreted these moves as a strategy by Xi to diminish the influence of Zhang Youxia, the military’s second-highest official, suggesting that further purges may be on the horizon as power dynamics shift behind the scenes.

The Financial Times, citing anonymous current and former U.S. officials familiar with the matter, reported on Nov. 27 that China is probing the current defense minister, Adm. Dong Jun.

When asked about the reports on Nov. 28, Wu dismissed them as “purely fabrications.”

“China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with such actions of slandering,” Wu said.

Despite the regime’s rejection of the purported investigation into Dong, analysts have said that the emergence of such speculation has already raised questions about his grip on the military, as well as the effectiveness of Xi’s anti-graft efforts, which he initiated more than a decade ago.

Hung Tzu-Chieh, an expert on China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at INDSR, described the corruption as “par for the course” for the PLA.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if the entire upper echelon of the People’s Liberation Army were entangled in corruption,” Hung told The Epoch Times. “That’s why [the shake-up] has prompted commentators and observers to raise questions about the military’s true loyalty [to Xi].”

Luo Ya contributed to this report.