China’s defense ministry said they are ‘not aware’ of reports that Gen. He Weidong has been placed under investigation.
Chinese authorities skirted questions about the status of the leader of the nation’s top military body during a press conference on Thursday, adding to speculations that the commander may have been purged.
Responding to a question about
reports claiming that Gen. He Weidong is under investigation for corruption, China’s Ministry of National Defense told reporters that it is “not aware of the situation.”
The official transcript published on the ministry’s website didn’t include this exchange. Foreign journalists, including those from Taiwan’s state news agency
CNA, who attended the monthly press conference in Beijing, confirmed that the statement came from the defense ministry’s spokesperson, senior Col. Wu Qian.
He, 67, rose to the military’s top rank as a close ally of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping. He was elevated to the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission—a Party committee overseeing the armed forces—during the 20th National Congress in October 2022, which saw Xi secure an unprecedented third term as the party’s leader.
The last reported sighting of He was on March 11 at the
closing ceremony of the Party’s rubber-stamp legislature in Beijing, according to footage and reports by China’s state-controlled media, which tightly controls the information released to the outside world.
Just days later, rumors began circulating on overseas social media indicating that the military commander was under investigation as part of a sweeping anti-corruption campaign that has rattled the top ranks of the People’s Liberation Army.
Two China affairs commentators, citing their sources close to the Party’s upper echelons,
told The Epoch Times this week that He was taken away by authorities for questioning. The
Washington Times also reported on Tuesday that U.S. intelligence agencies believe that He is being purged, citing unnamed defense officials.
For outside observers, the defense ministry’s response on Thursday indicates that the third-ranked military official has fallen from grace.
“It seems to be confirmed that He Weidong was taken away,” said Shen Ming-Shih, an expert on the Chinese military at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank backed by the Taiwanese government.
“Given his significant role as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission … if there were no issues, the authorities would have quickly clarified his situation,” Shen told The Epoch Times.
Questions surrounding He’s fate have emerged following the abrupt downfall of another senior figure within the powerful Central Military Commission. Adm.
Miao Hua, who had overseen the political loyalty of the armed forces since 2017, was placed under investigation for alleged “serious violations of discipline,” the defense ministry said in November 2024, using the code words for corruption.
When asked about updates on Miao’s case at Thursday’s briefing, the defense ministry spokesperson said, “I currently have no information to release,” according to CNA. This exchange was also absent from the official transcript.
Since the summer of 2023, the wide-ranging anti-corruption purge has removed
more than a dozen senior military officials and defense executives, including two
defense ministers.
The series of shakeups within the Chinese military fuels speculation among outside observers regarding the dynamics behind the scenes. Some analysts have linked it to the
power struggles among Party elites.
While the veracity of these theories remains unclear, the push for purges shows no signs of abating. On Wednesday, the CCP dismissed Lt. Gen. Tang Yong from the Party’s political advisory body, without explanation, according to state media. Tang served as the deputy head of the armed forces’ anti-corruption unit.
Luo Ya contributed to this report.
