After nearly two years of investigation, China officially announced on May 7 that former defense ministers and Central Military Commission (CMC) members Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu had been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, along with the confiscation of all personal property. According to the official statement, Wei was found guilty of accepting bribes, while Li took and gave bribes.
This marks a significant development in the ongoing People’s Liberation Army (PLA) purge. Until now, no one from the military top brass had received such severe punishments since early days of the anti-corruption campaign. What factors may have led to such harsh sentences and what are the broader implications for other PLA leaders?
A death sentence with a two-year reprieve is usually reserved for serious crimes in China, including major corruption cases, premeditated murder, and large-scale drug trafficking. The last confirmed case of a high-ranking PLA officer to receive a suspended death sentence was Gu Junshan, former deputy director of the General Logistics Department, whose corruption case reportedly involved over 600 million yuan (approximately $98 million). Apparently, Gu helped anti-corruption investigators by “exposing others,” which earned him a death sentence with two-year reprieve rather than outright execution. He is now believed to be serving a life sentence in a military prison.
Gu’s case triggered an avalanche of investigations within the PLA, causing the downfall of former CMC Vice Chairmen Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou. In 2017, the PLA Chief of Staff Fang Fenghui also fell from grace. Xu died awaiting sentencing, while Guo and Fang received life sentences rather than the heavier penalty of suspended death sentences.
Like Gu, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu are unlikely to be executed after the reprieve period. Instead, their sentences will be commuted to life imprisonment. Despite their initial resistance against cooperating with investigators, Wei and Li likely caved and provided critical information on former colleagues. Such cooperation presumably spared them from execution, but will implicate more high- and mid-ranking PLA officers. Additional PLA officers are expected to be drawn into the anti-corruption vortex.
China’s military courts are not politically neutral and the sentencing of high-profile cases requires the approval of the commander-in-chief, particularly under the CMC chairman responsibility system. Rather than sentencing Wei and Li to life, what drove Xi to impose a more stringent sentence?
First of all, the punishment serves as a powerful deterrent against corruption and other types of official malfeasance. Using Gu Junshan’s case as a reference, Wei and Li’s cases must have involved exorbitant amount of stolen funds, likely affecting the performance of the Rocket Force and Equipment Development Department they once led.
That said, imposing an actual death sentence for senior officers would be too costly for PLA morale and could destabilize the officer corps. A suspended death sentence therefore represents a middle ground: severe enough to inspire fear-based compliance, but carrying less political risk.
Finally, given the approaching 21st Party Congress next year, which will extend Xi’s tenure for another five years, he needs to ensure firm control over the PLA – and the tried-and-true method is using fear tactics. A climate of anxiety already permeates the PLA and is likely to persist through the next Party Congress.
As the Chinese saying goes “accompanying an emperor is like accompanying a tiger.” So far, Xi has demonstrated little hesitation in handing out stiff sentences to former subordinates who aided him at the apex of power. The suspended death sentences handed down to China’s 12th and 13th defense ministers do not bode well for the ongoing cases of former CMC members Miao Hua, He Weidong, Zhang Youxia, and Liu Zhenli, who will likely receive lengthy prison terms in the future.
On the whole, this episode underscores that the PLA’s upper echelon has become an extremely dangerous zone. High rank offers no protection against the ongoing anti-corruption campaign, and fear among elite officers appears genuine as they await the fall of the Sword of Damocles. Going forward, survival in the PLA will be predicated on demonstrating loyalty rather than exhibiting talent – a dynamic with certain impact on military capability and readiness.
