What’s new: China's former Defense Minister, Li Shangfu, has been removed from the country’s top military decision-making body, marking the latest development since his dismissal from office last October.
Li’s name has been scrubbed from the list of top leaders in the Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC) published on the Defense Ministry’s official website.
Presided over by President Xi Jinping, the party’s CMC is China’s top military command body and mirrors the composition of the state’s CMC in China’s parallel party-government structure. Its membership is decided by the Central Committee.
Background: Li, who took the defense minister job in early 2023, was removed from his post in October. He has also been ousted from the state’s CMC and from his position of state councilor, a cabinet role holding a higher seniority than a regular minister.
He currently remains as a member of the Central Committee and the National People's Congress. There has been no public announcement about the reason for Li’s removal.
Li, 66, is a veteran space industry expert. He previously served as head of the CMC’s equipment development department from 2017 to 2022, and was commander of the Xichang Satellite Launch Center for a decade.
After a two-month hiatus, Admiral Dong Jun, former chief of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, was named as Li’s successor in late December. Dong becomes the first PLA Navy officer to serve as defense chief.
Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com)
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