Author: Colleen Howe and Ethan Wang
BEIJING, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Three Chinese lawmakers with ties to the defense sector have been removed from office following an investigation into China’s top generals, state media said, as Beijing attempts to modernize its military.
The Xinhua announcement late Wednesday gave no reason for the dismissals or said lawmakers from the defense, aerospace and nuclear industries were under investigation.
Amid President Xi Jinping’s years-long anti-corruption campaign, the Ministry of National Defense said on January 24 that it was investigating General Zhang Youxia, second only to Xi Jinping in China’s military leadership, for alleged “serious violations of discipline and law.”
The investigation into Zhang, considered a top ally of Xi Jinping, means the United States has lost a respected and well-known connection within China’s military, as successive U.S. administrations have struggled to build high-level ties to avoid mishaps between the world’s two most powerful militaries.
The dismissed lawmakers include Zhou Xinmin, the former general manager of state-owned conglomerate Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which makes most of China’s military aircraft and drones, Liu Cangli, a longtime nuclear weapons researcher, and Luo Qi, chief engineer of state-owned nuclear power giant China National Nuclear Corporation.
The provincial government, which is responsible for removing lawmakers, did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
The removals were announced a month before the annual session of China’s legislative body, the National People’s Congress, marking the start of the ruling Communist Party’s five-year planning cycle.
Xi Jinping wants China, the world’s largest military spender after the United States, to achieve what he calls a comprehensive military modernization by 2035, although the Pentagon has said corruption in its ranks could hamper progress toward that goal.
Zhou Enlai was appointed chairman of AVIC in March 2024, but his name no longer appears on the company’s website. The day before he was dismissed, AVIC held an anti-corruption meeting, the company said on social media. Zhou is also a former executive at Shanghai-based aircraft manufacturer COMAC.
In February 2025, Tan Ruisong, the former general manager of AVIC, was expelled from the party for corruption.
According to Mr. Liu’s biography on the website of the Chinese Society of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Mr. Liu served as the president of the China Academy of Engineering Physics from 2015 to 2024 and has been engaged in nuclear weapons research for a long time.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe and Ethan Wang; Editing by William Mallard)
