Former ministers Qin, Li removed from top body

China's Communist Party removed its former foreign and defense ministers, Qin Gang and Li Shangfu, from its Central Committee yesterday during a meeting of its top decision-making body, state news agency Xinhua reported.

The two officials had been removed from their jobs last year.

China's leadership also vowed to resolve "risks" plaguing the economy, state media said, but few new policies were announced as the party ended its long-delayed third plenum. Xinhua said it had instead "adopted a resolution on further deepening reform."

The party also endorsed President Xi Jinping's policies to build the country's technological power and fortify its national security.

A statement released when the meeting ended provided a broad-brush summary of any decisions. More details are likely to emerge in the coming days.

The meeting of the 205-member Central Committee is held roughly once every five years to map out the direction of the country's long-term social and economic policies. Removals of Central Committee members would also be approved at such meetings.

The Central Committee said in a communique that it accepted Qin's resignation from the body and confirmed the expulsion of Li Shangfu, 66, as well as former People's Liberation Army Rocket Force commander Li Yuchao, 61, from the party for "serious violations of discipline and law" - a euphemism for corruption. Li Yuchao was also removed from his job last year.

The decision to expel Li Shangfu and Li Yuchao from the party and its Central Committee by extension suggests harsher consequences for the pair, compared to Qin's resignation. Qin remains a party member.

Former Central Committee alternate member and PLA Rocket Force chief of staff Lieutenant General Sun Jinming was also expelled from the party for corruption, the communique said.

Xi has spearheaded a wide-ranging anti-corruption campaign since becoming leader in 2012. In the first half of this year alone, the party's top graft watchdog has investigated 36 officials at the vice ministerial level and above.

Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe were both expelled last month on bribery charges, as the PLA undergoes a sweeping anti-corruption purge that has implicated two former defense ministers and nine top generals.

Qin, 58, was abruptly removed as foreign minister in July last year after seven months on the job and has not been seen in public since following rumors of an extramarital affair. He was removed from the State Council in October and "resigned" from the national legislative body in February.

He became one of the country's youngest foreign minister when he was appointed in December 2022, enjoying a meteoric rise that analysts partly attributed to his closeness to Xi. No official reason was given for Qin's resignation.

"The communique grants him the dignity of appearing to 'resign' on his own volition, and still calls him a 'comrade,' " said Wen-Ti Sung, a fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global China Hub.

Li Shangfu was ousted as defense minister last October without explanation, before being placed under a graft investigation. He was removed from the party's highest military command body in February.

Li Yuchao was replaced last July during a shakeup of the Rocket Force leadership which also saw its political commissar dismissed.

He oversaw a strategic unit of the PLA responsible for the nation's conventional and nuclear missile arsenal.

The Central Committee's communique also pledged to deepen military reforms, "uphold the party's leadership over the PLA," and "provide effective guarantees for achieving military and national defense modernization" - without mentioning the crackdown.

Agriculture minister Tang Renjian, 61, who has been under investigation since May, remains a member of the Central Committee.

Three alternate Central Committee members were appointed as full members.

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