BEIJING – A former chief of staff of China’s military was sentenced to lifein prison, state media said Wednesday, after he was swept up in PresidentXi Jinping’s ongoing anti-graft crackdown.
Appointed to the People’s Liberation Army’s top post in 2012, Fang Fenghuiwas convicted of accepting and offering bribes, and having an unclearsource of a huge amount of assets, official news agency Xinhua reported.
A military court sentenced Fang to life in prison, stripped him ofpolitical rights for life, and ordered the confiscation of all his personalassets, Xinhua said.
Fang was abruptly replaced in August 2017 amid a stand-off with India overa territorial dispute, and just days after he had met the US top brass todiscuss North Korea.
The general was transferred to the military prosecution authority onsuspicion of bribery in January of last year, state media reported at thetime.
Fang was one of two senior generals who did not appear on a list ofdelegates to the Communist Party’s twice-a-decade congress in October 2017,sparking speculation he had run afoul of Xi’s anti-corruption campaign.
The other, Zhang Yang, committed suicide in Beijing later that year afterbeing investigated over connections to two graft-tainted former seniormilitary officers.
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Xi has pledged to continue the anti-corruption crackdown, which since 2012has brought down 1.5 million party officials at various levels — includingtop military leaders.
Corruption has long been an intractable problem for the country, but manyexperts argue that the campaign has the hallmarks of a political purge asthe Chinese president consolidates his power.
Xi has sought to enhance his control over China’s two-million-strongmilitary, the world’s largest, reshuffling its leadership and vowing tomake it “world-class” by 2050.
The military was ordered to pledge to be “absolutely loyal, honest andreliable to Xi” in new guidelines released by the Central MilitaryCommission in 2017.
All of Fang’s recovered assets will be turned over to the state treasury,Xinhua said. – APP/AFP
