Geostrategy-Direct
U.S. intelligence agencies believe Gen. He Weidong, one of two vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission (CMC), is the latest victim of a political purge in the upper ranks of China’s People’s Liberation Army.
His disappearance has been the subject of rumors for a week. The CMC is the Chinese Communist Party’s military control organization.
The general disappeared from public view more than 10 days ago, according to defense officials cited by security correspondent Bill Gertz.
Two officials confirmed that Communist Party leader Xi Jinping, who is chairman of the CMC, purged Gen. He, the Washington Times reported.
During his tenure atop the CCP, Xi has reportedly carried out 43 purges of PLA officers.
A second official said Gen. He's ouster is the result of the unusual power dynamics at the top of the CMC.
Normally, one of two CMC vice chairmen is a commissar. But both Gen. He and the second vice chairman, Gen. Zhang Youxia, were promoted to the commission as military officers who were not political commissars and were more focused on operational military matters, the second official said.
Gen. He came under suspicion for lacking sufficient political support for Xi, who has reinvigorated communist ideology since coming to power in 2012, the official said.
Meanwhile, a U.S. intelligence report that is more than two years late and consists of only seven pages noted that Xi has amassed more than $1 billion in assets through relatives, revealing “endemic” corruption at all levels of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
While its impact on public opinion inside China cannot be predicted, U.S. specialists charged the report failed to capture the scope of official corruption in Beijing.
“This pathetic seven-page report, two and a half years in the making, is an insult to Secretary of State Rubio who requested it by law in December 2022, Director [Tulsi] Gabbard who released it, President Trump who needed it to protect our nation, and the American people who funded it,” said Paul Berkowitz, a China expert and former congressional aide.
The intelligence community was given ample time to produce a thorough account of the wealth of Chinese leaders but did not do so, Berkowitz said.
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“Chinese leaders have murdered millions of Americans through illicit fentanyl,” he said, “And they won’t stop until the details of their wealth are known by the Chinese people and American political leaders led by President Trump.”
The unclassified DNI report, “Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party,” was required by Congress under the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. It was due to Congress in December 2023 but has been delayed by intelligence agencies for unspecified reasons.
Related: Against Team Biden’s wishes, DNI compiles mandated report on massive CCP corruption, April 16, 2024
The report stated that as many as 65% of all government officials in China receive unofficial income through bribery or graft — despite more than a decade of anti-corruption efforts that have ensnared over 5 million Chinese Communist Party officials.
“Corruption is an endemic feature of and challenge for China, enabled by a political system with power highly centralized in the hands of the CCP, a CCP-centric concept of the rule of law,” the report said.
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