Former Chairman of China Aviation Industry Corporation (referred to as AVIC), Tan Ruisong, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve today (25th) on charges of corruption, bribery, insider trading, and leaking insider information.
According to reports from official Chinese media, the Intermediate People’s Court of Dalian City in Liaoning Province sentenced Tan Ruisong, former Party Secretary and Chairman of AVIC, to death with a two-year reprieve for the charges of corruption, bribery, insider trading, and leaking insider information, and ordered the confiscation of all his personal assets.
It was reported that from July 2003 to 2010, Tan Ruisong took advantage of his positions as Vice General Manager of AVIC Second Group Company, Vice General Manager of China Aviation Industry Corporation, and others, to illegally embezzle public funds totaling 89.93 million yuan.
Between 1998 and 2024, while holding positions such as Vice General Manager and General Manager of Harbin Dong’an Engine (Group) Co., Ltd., Chairman of Harbin Aircraft Industry (Group) Co., Ltd., Vice General Manager of AVIC Second Group Company, Vice General Manager, General Manager, and Chairman of China Aviation Industry Corporation, Tan Ruisong assisted others in corporate mergers and project contracts, and illegally accepted a total of over 613 million yuan in assets.
From March 2012 to March 2023, as a person with insider information, Tan Ruisong engaged in multiple securities transactions related to insider information during sensitive periods, and repeatedly leaked insider information, explicitly or implicitly prompting others to engage in securities transactions related to insider information, with the circumstances being “especially serious.”
Public records show that Tan Ruisong, 64 this year, served as Party Secretary and Chairman of AVIC in May 2018, was dismissed in March 2023, and his investigation was officially announced in August 2024. In February last year, he was expelled from the Communist Party of China, with official accusations of “relying on the military industry for personal gain.”
Over the past three years, multiple senior executives of state-owned military industry enterprises under the Communist Party of China have been ousted, with AVIC being just one of the heavily affected areas.
AVIC produces fighter jets for the Chinese military. In addition to Tan Ruisong’s fall from grace, on January 18, 2025, the General Manager of the group, Hao Zhaoping, and Deputy General Manager Yang Wei were suddenly dismissed, with their resumes being removed on the same day. Yang Wei, the chief designer of the Chinese J-20 stealth fighter, was recently removed from the list of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Moreover, Zhou Xinmin, who became Chairman of AVIC in March 2024, was absent during the senior management’s condolences to retired officials during the Chinese New Year. On February 4, 2026, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress announced that former AVIC Chairman Zhou Xinmin was removed from the position of National People’s Congress delegate, confirming his downfall.