The Chinese Minister of Defense, Dong Junis under investigation for alleged corruptionaccording to what the newspaper published this Wednesday Financial Times (FT), in a case that if confirmed would make him the third consecutive holder of this portfolio accused of this type of crime.
Dong63 years old and appointed in December of last year, replaced the general Li Shangfuwho had been dismissed seven months after his appointment after a striking and unexplained absence from public life.
Dong’s situation is part of a wave of investigations in the military establishment ordered by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, according to official US sources cited by the FT who consider that the possible involvement of the minister reflects the great scope of the investigations.
Asked about the report at a briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ningsaid it was just “chasing shadows” and offered no further information.
Victor Shihan expert on China’s elite politics, told AFP that Dong “probably “He had authority over tens of billions in acquisitions a year.” during his time in the navy. “The problem is that competition for senior positions is so fierce that there could be mutual recriminations between officers, leading to endless cycles of arrestsnew appointments and recriminations,” he said.
Benjamin Hoof the China program at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told the AFP that there were “a couple of possibilities” for the reported investigation. “One is that the selection process is wrong, or the other is that there is some kind of scandal or political problem for which, in this case, Dong Jun has had to take the blame.”
In addition to the two previous ministers – Li and his predecessor, Wei Fengheaccused of corruption when he was already retired – have fallen in recent months, among others, the two responsible at the head of the Rocket Forceon which the Asian giant’s nuclear program depends.
The same sources that spoke with him FT They ventured that the investigations into the Popular Liberation Army (EPL) are eroding Xi’s confidence in the military establishment and generating doubts about its ability to invade Taiwan by 2027an objective that, according to US military officials, the president had set. Therefore, Xi’s purges seek place people loyal to the Chinese Communist Party in the most important command positions.
Dong, a PLA veteran and former Navy commander, last appeared in public last week, when he attended a summit of the defense ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) held in Laos.
At this meeting, the Chinese representative refused to meet with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin arguing that Washington “undermines the fundamental interests” from Beijing on the issue of Taiwan when selling weapons.
Austin, speaking to the media from Laos, He described China’s rudeness as “unfortunate”which he described as “a step backwards for the entire region.”
The defense ministers of both powers had held their first meeting in Juneduring a security forum in Singapore, a meeting that marked the resumption of high-level bilateral dialogue between both powers after the interruption caused by the visit of Nancy Pelosithen speaker of the US House of Representatives, to Taiwan in August 2022.
(With information from EFE and AFP)
