China Defence Minister Dong Jun investigated for corruption, FT reports

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China Defence Minister ***** Jun investigated for ***********, FT reports

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) – China Defence Minister ***** Jun has been placed under investigation as part of a wide-ranging anti-*********** probe that has roiled the top ranks of the People’s Liberation Army, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

***** is the third consecutive serving or former ******** defence minister to be investigated for alleged ***********, the FT reported, citing current and former U.S. officials.

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When asked about the FT report at a daily press briefing, ******** foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said it was “chasing shadows”.

China’s defence ministry did not immediately reply to Reuters requests for comment.

China’s military has undergone a sweeping anti-*********** purge since last year, with at least nine PLA generals and a handful of defence industry executives removed from the national legislative body to date.

*****, a former PLA Navy chief, was appointed defence minister in December 2023. His predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed after seven months into the job.

***** last week declined to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a meeting of defence ministers in Laos citing U.S. actions over Taiwan, a move the Pentagon chief said on Wednesday was unfortunate.

As defence minister, ***** is responsible for China’s military diplomacy with other nations. He oversaw a recent thaw in U.S.-China military-to-military ties, with both nations holding theatre-level commander talks for the first time in September.

But he was not promoted to the six-member Central Military Commission (CMC), China’s highest-level military body, during a major ********** Party plenum earlier this year, where personnel reshuffles would normally be announced.

China’s defence minister has traditionally been a member of both the CMC, which is headed by ******** President Xi Jinping, and the State Council, China’s cabinet-level executive body.

***** was not appointed to the State Council either during a government reshuffle in March.

“Frankly nothing would surprise me anymore,” said Dennis Wilder, a professor at Georgetown University and former U.S. intelligence analyst.

“The history with these investigations in the PLA are that once the string of *********** is pulled many other threads are revealed and the sweater unravels.”

*****’s two immediate predecessors, Li and Wei Fenghe, were expelled from the ********** Party in June for “serious violations of discipline”, a euphemism for ***********.

A ********** Party statement at the time said the pair “betrayed the trust of the party and the Central Military Commission, seriously polluted the political environment of the military, and caused great damage to … the image of its senior leaders”.

The pair were also found to have received huge sums of money in bribes and sought to provide “personnel benefits” for others, the statement said, such as promotions or higher rankings in the military.

Reuters exclusively reported last year that Li was under investigation for suspected *********** in military procurement.

Wei had disappeared from public view after he was replaced in March 2023 during a planned cabinet reshuffle. Wei was head of the strategic People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force from 2015-17.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue and Neil Fullick)

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