2 former defense ministers sentenced to death in China, what crime did Xi Jinping commit?

news agency AP quoted the official Xinhua news agency as saying that a Chinese court found Wei Fenghe guilty of taking a bribe and sentenced him to death with a 2-year suspend. The court found Li Shangfu guilty of taking and giving bribes and handed down the same sentence to him. In China, the suspended death sentence is often commuted to life imprisonment.

Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign
These decisions are the latest in Chinese President Xi Jinping's campaign to remove senior officials from office. Xi launched an anti-corruption campaign more than a decade ago and has continued unabated, culminating in the removal of China's top general and military leadership in January. China's powerful Central Military Commission, which previously had 11 members, now has only 1 member other than Xi Jinping.

The goal of this campaign is to end corruption. Xi Jinping has used anti-corruption measures as a way to consolidate political loyalty and control among the political elite. However, it is not clear whether either of them had political differences with Xi Jinping.

Wei Fenghe's Career
Wei served as Minister of Defense from 2018 to 2023. Lee then took his place, but he disappeared publicly after a few months. He was removed from the post in October 2023. Li spent most of his career as an expert in the missile and procurement branches of China's People's Liberation Army and the US imposed travel and financial sanctions on him for buying Russian military equipment. Dong Joon, who replaced Lee, is still in the post of defense minister. However, experts say he was never appointed to the powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees the military.

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