CCP Reveals Deaths of Rocket Force Deputy Commander, Top Security Head, as Infighting Intensifies to Critical Level

CCP police officers, accompanied by police dogs, conduct security scans at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on March 10, 2022. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

The deaths of two high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military officials have recently been revealed by Chinese media. Observers believe the cover-up of their deaths and delayed announcement, accompanied by the recent mysterious removal of the communist regime’s foreign minister who has been missing for more than a month, indicate that the intensified power struggles within the CCP have reached a critical level.

The CCP’s official mouthpiece, Xinhua, confirmed on July 24 that Lieutenant General Wang Shaojun, former head of the CCP’s Central Security Bureau and the top bodyguard to CCP leaders, died in Beijing on April 26 at the age of 67. No more information regarding his death was given.

Delayed Announcement of a Mysterious Death

The news of Mr. Wang’s death was held by the authorities for nearly three months. On the Chinese social media platform WeChat, the public account of the Central Security Bureau posted an obituary for Mr. Wang on April 27, stating that the farewell ceremony for him would be held in the PLA General Hospital on April 30. However, the post and related news were soon deleted from mainland China’s internet.

On July 27, Shanghai-based mainland Chinese media The Paper reported that it had learned from Lieutenant General Wu Guohua’s family that the former deputy commander of the CCP’s Rocket Force had died in Beijing on July 4 at the age of 66 due to an unspecified illness.

The Rocket Force, under the Eastern Theatre Command of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA), fires live missiles into the waters near Taiwan from an undisclosed location in China on Aug. 4, 2022. Eastern Theatre Command/Handout via Reuters

Meanwhile, an obituary issued by Mr. Wu’s funeral office on July 25 has been circulating on social media, stating that Mr. Wu died in Beijing on July 4 due to illness at the age of 66. A farewell ceremony would be held on July 30.

Gao Yu, a retired former CCP official in Beijing, posted on his account on social media a series of photos of Mr. Wu’s mourning hall on July 30. The photos showed that only a few people visited his mourning hall, which had been set up since July 4. These included Zhang Xiaoyang, the eldest son of Zhang Zhen, one of the CCP’s founding generals, who sent a wreath to the Wu family and visited them on July 23. Mr. Zhang used to be Mr. Wu’s superior in the military. Mr. Gao claimed in his post that Mr. Wu’s cause of death was suicide—that he had hanged himself in the bathroom of his home on July 4.

Mr. Wu is believed to have been involved in the corruption endemic in the Rocket Force’s top circle, and possibly in the leaking of secrets.

Previously, Taiwanese media had also alleged that Mr. Wu killed himself by hanging. 

Liu Qing, former director of the Human Rights in China, told The Epoch Times that if the 2 men had really died of illnesses, “it would have been announced a long time ago when it happened, so the delayed announcements of their deaths show that there must be factors that they [the CCP] dare not tell the public and outside world.”

These releases coincided with the CCP’s announcement on July 25 that it would remove Qin Gang from his office as foreign minister, and that he would be replaced by Wang Yi, the former foreign minister. No reason has been given for Mr. Qin’s removal, nor for his mysterious disappearance from public view since June 25. The lack of transparency has sparked intense speculation, which includes that it may be because Mr. Qin had close ties with the Rocket Force’s top officials.

Shake-Up of Rocket Force’s Top Circle

On July 31, Beijing appointed General Wang Houbin as the new PLA Rocket Force chief to replace Li Yuchao.

On July 28, South China Morning Post, a Hong Kong-based media outlet bought by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma that has ties to the CCP’s top circles, reported that several top PLA Rocket Force generals were investigated for corruption by the military watchdog for months before their arrest, including the force’s current commander, Li Yuchao, and past and present deputies Zhang Zhenzhong and Liu Guangbin.

Rocket Force is the only branch of the CCP’s military that has the ability to compete with the U.S. military, according to some analysts.

The CCP’s Rocket Force’s combat capability and quick development have drawn the U.S. military’s attention. A U.S. government website recently published detailed information about the inner workings of the CCP’s Rocket Force, which is a highly sensitive and confidential project.

A missile from the rocket force of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army takes part in operations during combat readiness patrol and military exercises around Taiwan, on April 7, 2023. Liu Mingsong/Xinhua via AP

Yao Cheng, the former lieutenant colonel of the PLA Navy Command, said in a Twitter post on June 28 that Rocket Force’s commander Li was taken away from his office on June 26, the day that Mr. Qin disappeared.

He told The Epoch Times that Mr. Qin’s disappearance was related to high-ranking officials from the PLA Rocket Force being taken out. There have been reports that during Mr. Qin’s tenure as China’s ambassador to the United States, he didn’t prevent, but rather covered up the leaking of Rocket Force secrets by the son of Rocket Force’s commander Li, while the younger Li was studying in the United States. The father and son were suspected of selling the CCP’s military intelligence.

Lan Shu, a U.S.-based political commentator, told The Epoch Times that he also believed that the death of Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu being covered up for weeks and months might have something to do with the recent troubles of a group of top military officials.

Mr. Yao told The Epoch Times on July 25 that regarding the delayed death announcements and targeted investigations of the top CCP military and security officials, the key point is that the current atmosphere in the CCP is cutthroat, and the authorities’ covering up of the true situation is likely to cause more suspicion and speculation in the outside world.

Mr. Yao added that there are indeed many problems in the CCP’s military. “After the rumored leak of intelligence from the Rocket Force, organizations above the corps level within the military are conducting major security inspections.”

Mr. Liu said that the two dead officials and Mr. Qin are all figures close to the power center of the CCP. “Now so many strange things are happening around the core of the CCP. When they happen, the CCP dare not even speak out the reasons, which shows that the CCP is now really on the verge of collapse.”

Yuan Hongbing, an Australia-based legal scholar, told The Epoch Times on July 25 that in terms of the recent chaos in the CCP’s upper echelon, “It shows that Xi Jinping can’t handle the entire CCP system at all, despite his already having gotten rid of his political rivals. The power struggles among the CCP’s various systems and interest groups have reached an extremely serious state. Some people in the CCP system say that the entire CCP bureaucratic system is now in a state of division.”

Luo Ya, Ning Haizhong, Li Yun, and Fang Xiao contributed to this report.