Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Li’s absence at top military meeting heightens speculation about his removal
The Hindu
Speculation rife over missing Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, who was conspicuously absent from a meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC). Gen. Li, a close confidante of President Xi Jinping, has not been seen in public for 3 weeks. His absence followed a major shakeup in the PLA Rocket Force and the replacement of Foreign Minister Qin Gang in July. No official explanation has been given.
Speculation about the missing Chinese Defence Minister Gen. Li Shangfu may have been removed and detained became rife after he was conspicuously absent at the meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) here on September 15.
Regarded as a close confidante of President Xi Jinping, Gen. Li has not been seen in public since early this month, and also had not attended the meeting with senior Vietnamese defence officials on September 7 and 8.
Gen. Li is the second high-ranking Minister and ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) official to go missing since July this year.
Gen. Li was conspicuously missing from the meeting held on September 15 of the CMC, the overall high command of the Chinese military headed by President Xi, according to the footage aired on the state broadcaster CCTV, extending an unexplained public absence now in its third week, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on September 16.
Besides his Presidency, 70-year-old Mr. Xi, regarded as the most powerful leader after Mao Zedong, heads the CPC and the CMC too.
The September 15 meeting discussed the political education of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Three of the seven-member Central Military Commission (CMC) He Weidong, the commission’s vice-chairman; Admiral Miao Hua, who supervises political affairs, and rocket force General Zhang Shengmin, who is in charge of disciplinary issues, attended the meeting, the Post said.