The Chinese Communist Party’s military-industrial complex has become a major hotspot for corruption, with three more senior military officials falling from grace, including former chairman of China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC) Zhou Xinmin, chief engineer of China National Nuclear Corporation Luo Qi, and director of China Academy of Engineering Physics Liu Cangli. All three had previously been absent from important events or had left their positions for unclear reasons.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party announced today (February 4) that Zhou Xinmin, Luo Qi, and Liu Cangli have been removed from their positions as delegates to the National People’s Congress. Luo Qi has also been stripped of his membership in the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress and the Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Health, and Sports, while Liu Cangli’s position on the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress has also been revoked.
On January 25, 2025, Wei Yingbiao, the general manager of AVIC, and several senior executives visited retired leaders and academicians within the group. However, reports did not mention the chairman of the group, Zhou Xinmin.
Zhou Xinmin chaired the anti-corruption meeting of AVIC on January 18 last year. On that same day, the general manager, Hao Zhaoping, and the deputy general manager, Yang Wei, were unexpectedly dismissed from their positions, and their resumes were removed from the official website on the same day. Since then, Zhou Xinmin has not made any public appearances. In July of last year, the “Leadership Team” section of the AVIC official website was updated to show that Cheng Fubo had taken over as chairman and party secretary, while the former chairman Zhou Xinmin’s whereabouts remained unknown.
During the CCP’s two sessions in March 2025, former Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee Xu Dazhe and Luo Qi, chief engineer of China National Nuclear Corporation, who were members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress at the time, were both absent.
Luo Qi is a Chinese nuclear power expert who previously served as the deputy director of the China Nuclear Power Research and Design Institute and the party secretary of the China Institute of Atomic Energy.
Furthermore, on July 3, 2024, the director of China Academy of Engineering Physics (CAEP), Liu Cangli, and the vice director, Mo Zeyao, both resigned, sparking speculation.
Academician Liu Cangli, a nuclear weapons expert, was born in Qishan, Shaanxi in December 1961. He has been serving as the director of CAEP since 2015. In 2021, he was elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, mainly engaged in research on detonation, shock wave physics, and equipment development.
Once considered military-industrial officials “favored” by CCP leader Xi Jinping, many have fallen from grace in recent years, with most not being officially announced, but rather mysteriously “disappeared”. Among them, Politburo member Ma Xingrui, after being removed from the position of Secretary of the Xinjiang Party Committee on July 1, 2025, has been continuously absent from high-level CCP meetings recently, with rumors of trouble swirling around him.