THIRD IN A ROW? An expert said if the report of a probe into the defense official is true, people would naturally ask if it would erode morale in the military
AFP, BEIJING
Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) has been placed under investigation for corruption, a report said yesterday, the latest official implicated in a crackdown on graft in the country’s military.
Citing current and former US officials familiar with the situation, British newspaper the Financial Times said that the investigation into Dong was part of a broader probe into military corruption.
Neither the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Chinese embassy in Washington replied to a request for confirmation yesterday.
Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun attends a meeting in Singapore on May 30.
Photo: AFP
If confirmed, Dong would be the third Chinese defense minister in a row to fall under investigation for corruption.
A former navy commander, he was appointed defense minister in December last year following the surprise removal of his predecessor, Li Shangfu (李尚福), just seven months into the job.
Li was later expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for offenses including suspected bribery, state media said.
He has not been seen in public since.
His predecessor, Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和), was also kicked out of the party and passed on to prosecutors over alleged corruption.
“It’s certainly a blow … because one would imagine they will be super careful to have someone very clean in this role,” said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
“Graft probes are very commonly targeted at the military because of the long historical ties between the business world and the PLA,” he said, referring to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Beijing has deepened a crackdown on alleged graft in the armed forces over the past year, with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) this month ordering the military to stamp out corruption and boost its “war-preparedness.”
The intensity of the anti-graft drive in the army has been partially driven by fears that it might affect China’s ability to wage a war, Bloomberg reported this year, citing US officials.
“If the corruption probe into Dong Jun is true, then it is normal that people will question if it will erode morale and if it will affect the PLA’s warfighting capabilities,” Loh said.
