The meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) closed on Thursday (February 26). The Military Court President Liu Shaoyun was removed from his position and his whereabouts are unknown. The previous Military Court President, Cheng Dongfang, was also removed for unknown reasons.
According to the Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency, the meeting of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee closed in the afternoon on Thursday at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The meeting decided to dismiss Wang Xiangxi from his position as Minister of Emergency Management, dismiss Jiang Chenghua from his position as a member of the National People’s Congress Foreign Affairs Committee, and Liu Shaoyun from his position as Military Court President.
Wang Xiangxi had already fallen from grace in January of this year; Jiang Chenghua was reassigned to be the Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Commerce at the beginning of the year. As for Liu Shaoyun, his removal as Military Court President and the reasons behind it, as well as his whereabouts, remain unclear.
The CCP Military Court operates under the dual leadership of the Supreme Court and the Central Military Commission Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and organizationally, it is a direct subordinate unit of the Central Military Commission Political and Legal Affairs Commission.
According to information from Baidu Baike (a Chinese encyclopedia), Liu Shaoyun previously served as the Deputy Chief Procurator of the Military Procuratorate and held the position of Military Court President from October 2023 to February 2026.
Liu Shaoyun’s predecessor, Cheng Dongfang, was a Rear Admiral in the Navy. He was a member of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP, served as the Political Commissar of the Sichuan Military Region in July 2020, became the Chief Procurator of the Military Procuratorate in April 2021, and assumed the position of Military Court President in December 2022. On September 1, 2023, Cheng Dongfang was removed from his position as Military Court President and reassigned to work for the Central Military Commission Political and Legal Affairs Commission, although his specific role was not disclosed.
In December 2024, Cheng Dongfang was promoted to Deputy Political Commissar of the Navy. However, from January 12 to 14 this year, during the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP held in Beijing, Cheng Dongfang was one of the 13 absent commission members.
Chinese affairs expert Li Linyi stated that it remains to be seen whether Cheng Dongfang and Liu Shaoyun will land safely. It is currently unclear why the CCP Military Court has changed its President twice in just over two years, but it is estimated that this is related to the major purge within the CCP’s military forces, where the cases handled by the Military Court have touched upon power struggles among different factions. They might be affiliated with one of the two Vice Chairmen of the Central Military Commission, He Weidong or Zhang Youxia.