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William Zheng

Holly Chik

China’s top legislature has expelled four generals, pointing to a widening of the anti-corruption campaign in the military.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress said on Friday that the generals had been dismissed as deputies to the NPC.
They are People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning; rocket force disciplinary chief Wang Zhibin; Zhang Lin, head of the Logistics Support Department under the Central Military Commission; and Gao Daguang, political commissar of the CMC’s Joint Logistics Support Force.
As a full general, Wang Chunning, 62, is the highest ranking of the four.
Wang served in the People’s Liberation Army Ground Force for most of his career, rising in 2016 to become the commander of the Beijing garrison, tasked with defending the capital.
In April, 2020, he was transferred to the PAP as chief of staff, and became a commander just eight months later.




Wang Zhibin was appointed disciplinary chief of the PLA Rocket Force in December 2023. The branch oversees some of the PLA’s most important assets, including strategic nuclear missiles.
Wang was sent to the rocket force to tackle discipline after three of its then serving and former commanders – Li Yuchao, Zhou Yaning, and Wei Fenghe – came under corruption clouds. Wei was defence minister from 2018 until September 2023, when he was investigated.
Wang spent most of his career in the ground forces as well, holding key political positions in the 1st, 73rd and 81st group armies from 2015 to 2018.
In March, 2022, he became the political commissar of the Western Theatre Command’s ground forces.
As director of the CMC’s Logistics Support Department, Lieutenant General Zhang Lin oversaw the PLA’s Joint Logistics Support Force.
In 2013, he became commander of the navy’s support base in the eastern city of Qingdao. Five years later, he was promoted to deputy chief of staff of the support force before becoming its chief of staff in 2019.
He was transferred to head the PAP’s Logistics Department a year later and in March 2021 became director of the CMC’s General Office. He held that post until January 2022 when he was promoted to the CMC logistics chief role.
Lieutenant General Gao Daguang spent most of his career in political and administrative positions.
He was the political commissar of the CMC’s General Office from 2021 to 2024, before being posted to the logistics support force.


While at the CMC, he spent some time at the veterans bureau, overseeing the pensions and medical care of senior military retirees.
Gao started out serving in the Shenyang Military Region before taking up various appointments in the 41st Group Army and the 77th Group Army.
President Xi Jinping, who also heads the CMC, has conducted a sweeping anti-corruption purge of the military, implicating more than a dozen PLA generals and a number of defence industry executives.
Xi has repeatedly emphasised the importance of Communist Party loyalty in the PLA’s leadership to strengthen ideological control and to support China’s goal of becoming a military superpower.
Miao Hua, a top general who once oversaw the PLA’s ideology work, was among those to be brought down. He was removed from the CMC in June and stripped of his NPC role.
He Weidong, the second-ranked vice-chairman of the CMC and one of the 24 members of the party’s Politburo, has also not been seen in public in recent months.
He was last seen at the closing ceremony of the NPC in Beijing on March 11, and has missed a series of high-level Politburo and military public engagements since then.


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China expels 4 generals from legislature as anti-corruption push rolls through PLA

Wang Chunning is the most senior of the generals to lose his NPC role in this round of anti-corruption action. Photo: Handout

China’s military parade provides reminder of PLA’s former rising stars who fell to earth

Fang Fenghui, pictured with Xi Jinping in August 2017, shortly before his downfall. Photo: Reuters

Li Yuchao (top right) with a group of newly promoted senior commanders and Xi Jinping. Photo: Handout

 Ding Laihang led a formation that flew over Beijing in the 2019 parade. Photo: Handout

Deng Zhiping, was decorated twice for his role in fighting the Vietnamese. Photo: Weibo

Vice Admiral Li Hanjun, chief of staff of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, was expelled from the legislature in June. Photo: Handout

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The People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force was established in 2015 and overseas some of the Chinese military’s most important assets. Photo: Xinhua

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The new guidelines follow a series of military corruption scandals. Photo: Handout

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Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on enforcing party discipline while presiding over a group study session of the Politburo on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

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People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning the most senior of the group to lose his role as a lawmaker


People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning the most senior of the group to lose his role as a lawmaker.


China expels 4 generals from legislature as anti-corruption push rolls through PLA

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning the most senior of the group to lose his role as a lawmaker

People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning the most senior of the group to lose his role as a lawmaker