Both fallen generals (one of whom already committed suicide) were accused of \u201cbeing two-faced\u201d and \u201cdisloyal to the Party.\u201d<\/b>
\nOn October 16, China\u2019s state news agency Xinhua announced that Fang Fenghui and Zhang Yang, two former top general in the Chinese People\u2019s Liberation Army, were officially expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Both fallen generals had been stripped of their ranks earlier by the Central Military Commission (CMC), the highest body that controls the Chinese military.
As The Diplomat has been closely following, the fall of both senior generals\u00a0was verified several months ago.
Last November, Xinhua revealed that Zhang Yang, 66, a former member of the CMC, \u201changed himself at home\u201d on the morning of November 23 while under a corruption investigation. He is the highest-ranking military official to commit suicide under the anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping. China\u2019s military\u2019s official mouthpiece, the People\u2019s Liberation Army Daily, condemned Zhang for \u201cending his life in such a shameful way.\u201d
This January, Xinhua made public that Fang Fenghui, 67, a former member of the CMC and former chief of staff of the CMC Joint Staff Department, was \u201ctransferred to the military prosecution authority on suspicion of offering and accepting bribes.\u201d
In the latest statement, Xinhua said Zhang had \u201cseriously violated the Party\u2019s political discipline and political rules.\u201d\u00a0Under \u201csuspicion of offering and accepting bribes,\u201d Zhang had \u201chuge amount of unexplained wealth.\u201d
\u201cZhang attempted to escape punishment through committing suicide. This has seriously damaged the Party and the army, and tarnished the image of the military and the leadership,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cApproved by the Central Party Committee and the CMC, Zhang Yang was expelled from the Party and his property will be confiscated according to the law.\u201d
In another statement, Xinhua announced that Fang Fenghui had also \u201cseriously violated the Party\u2019s political discipline and political rules.\u201d Fang, too, is on \u201csuspicion of offering and accepting bribes\u201d and has \u201chuge amount of unexplained wealth.\u201d
\u201cThe amount is extremely large,\u201d the statement added. \u201cThe military procuratorate has completed the investigation on Fang Fenghui and his case has been transferred to the prosecutor.\u201d
Notably, according to Xinhua, both men were accused of being \u201ctwo-faced,\u201d \u201cdisloyal and dishonest to the Party,\u201d and \u201ccorrupted in politics and greedy in wealth.\u201d
As The Diplomat reported previously, Fang and Zhang had worked closely as colleagues for decades in the military. Both also had close links to Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the two highest ranking military officers to have been brought down under the anti-corruption campaign launched by Xi Jinping. Xu died of cancer in 2015 before he could face trial; Guo was sentenced to life imprisonment for bribery in 2016.
Since the close of the 19th Party Congress, Xi has been centralizing his personal power over the military as well as the whole Party. Meanwhile, the military has been constantly calling for \u201celiminating the baneful influence of Guo and Xu,\u201d as the two men\u00a0had controlled the Chinese military for more than a decade. Zhang and Fang apparently have been categorized by the Chinese authorities as a part of Guo and Xu\u2019s \u201cbaneful influence.\u201d<\/p>\n