A Chinese military court on Thursday sentenced two former defense ministers to death and two years’ reprieve for corruption. This represents the most severe punishment imposed on senior military officials since President Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption campaign more than a decade ago.
Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu were convicted in separate trials, according to a Statement from the official Xinhua News Agency. The court found Wei guilty of accepting bribes and Li guilty of both accepting and offering bribes. However, the court did not specify the amount of the amounts. Both men were stripped of their political rights for life and ordered to forfeit all their personal property. After the two-year reprieve period, their sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of further commutation or parole.
Under Chinese law, a suspended death sentence is known as Sixing Huanqi, is the second highest punishment. Article 50 of Chinese Criminal Law provides that a death sentence with a two-year reprieve may be commuted to life imprisonment if the convicted person does not commit an intentional crime during the reprieve period. In practice, suspended death sentences are rarely carried out.
Both Wei and Li were former members of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC) and former state councilors. Wei, 72, served as defense minister from 2018 to 2023. Li, 68, succeeded him but held the post for less than eight months before disappearing from public view in 2023. He was officially removed from office in October of the same year. Li faced U.S. travel and financial sanctions over his role in purchasing Russian military equipment as head of the People’s Liberation Army’s Equipment Development Department. The Communist Party expelled both men from its ranks in June 2024.
The verdicts mark the latest escalation in Xi’s campaign to root out corruption in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), with the crackdown now reaching the highest levels of the military leadership. In January 2026, authorities investigated Zhang Youxia, China’s highest-ranking general and Politburo member long considered a close ally of Xi, on suspicion of serious disciplinary violations. With Zhang’s removal, the CMC (the body that commands the Chinese armed forces) now consisted of only Xi himself and one other member, instead of the usual eleven members.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies reported earlier this year that the ongoing purges have left serious flaws in China’s command structure and likely impaired the readiness of its rapidly modernizing armed forces. A U.S. Department of Defense report released in December 2024 found that at least 15 senior military officials and defense industry executives were fired in the second half of 2023 alone, hurting the PLA’s progress toward its stated 2027 modernization goals.
Li’s successor, Dong Jun, continues to serve as defense minister but was not appointed to the CMc, a break from usual practice that analysts have interpreted as a reflection of Xi’s deepening distrust of the defense establishment.
