On the eve of the upcoming two sessions of the Chinese Communist Party in February, three senior military officials and nine high-ranking officers were removed from their positions as national people’s congress deputies on February 4th and February 26th. The latest announcement from the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for the first time disclosed that these three military officials were “suspected of violating discipline and laws,” while the nine senior officers were “suspected of serious violations of discipline and laws,” confirming the downfall of these twelve individuals.
April 17, the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s National People’s Congress issued the second announcement of 2026, revealing in the “Report on the Qualifications of Individual Deputies” that former Political Commissar Li Wei of the Information Support Force, former Commander of the Army Li Qiaoming, former Commander of the Navy Shen Jinlong, former Political Commissar of the Navy Qin Shengxiang, former Political Commissar of the Air Force Yu Zhongfu, former Political Commissar of the National Defense Mobilization Department Wang Donghai, former Assistant Director of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission Bian Ruifeng, the commander of the 73rd Group Army of the Army Ding Laifu, and the former commander of the Rocket Force’s 64th Base Yang Guang were all “suspected of serious violations of discipline and laws” and were discharged from their positions as national people’s congress deputies.
Among them, Bian Ruifeng was removed from his position as a national people’s congress deputy by the Chinese Communist Party’s Political Work Department of the Military Commission on January 23, 2026. Wang Donghai was removed from his position as a national people’s congress deputy by the Chinese Communist Party’s National Defense Mobilization Department on January 26, 2026. Li Qiaoming, and Ding Laifu were removed from their positions as national people’s congress deputies by the Chinese Communist Party’s Army on January 19, 2026. Shen Jinlong and Qin Shengxiang were removed from their positions as national people’s congress deputies by the Chinese Communist Party’s Navy on January 13, 2026. Yu Zhongfu was removed from his position as a national people’s congress deputy by the Chinese Communist Party’s Air Force on December 22, 2025. Yang Guang was removed from his position as a national people’s congress deputy by the Chinese Communist Party’s Rocket Force on January 19, 2026. Li Wei was removed from his position as a national people’s congress deputy by the Information Support Force of the Chinese Communist Party on January 9, 2026.
The report on the qualifications of individual deputies in the second announcement of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in 2026 also revealed that after stepping down as the Navy Commander in 2021, Vice Admiral Shen Jinlong was appointed as a full-time member of the Strategic Planning Committee of the Central Military Commission. Major General Yang Guang became the Deputy Commander of Hubei Provincial Military Region after stepping down as the Commander of the 64th Base of the Rocket Force.
On the eve of the two sessions of the Chinese Communist Party, on February 26th, after the closing of the meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, a notice was issued terminating the qualifications of 19 national people’s congress deputies, including the aforementioned nine senior military officers; however, the notice did not specify the reasons for the removal of the nine officers as national people’s congress deputies.
In the past three years, internal conflicts and cleansing within the Chinese Communist Party’s military have escalated, with a total of 36 senior Chinese Communist Party officials who were national people’s congress deputies being publicly removed from their positions, including 16 generals, 14 lieutenant generals, and 6 major generals.
The second announcement of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in 2026 on the “Report on the Qualifications of Individual Deputies” also revealed for the first time that Zhou Xinmin, former chairman of China Aviation Industry Corporation, Luo Qi, chief engineer of China National Nuclear Corporation, and Liu Cangli, director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, three national people’s congress deputies from the military-industrial complex were removed from their positions as national people’s congress deputies for “suspected violations of discipline and laws”.
On February 4, 2026, the Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party’s National People’s Congress announced that Zhou Xinmin, Luo Qi, and Liu Cangli were dismissed as national people’s congress deputies. Luo Qi was also removed from his positions as a member of the Standing Committee and the Education, Science, Culture, and Health Committee of the National People’s Congress. Liu Cangli’s role as a member of the Standing Committee was also revoked. The reasons were not mentioned in the announcement. These three individuals had previously been absent from important occasions or left for unknown reasons.
Luo Qi is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and Liu Cangli is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; subsequently, the official websites of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the Chinese Academy of Sciences successively deleted information related to the two individuals, and both were removed from the list of academicians. Since 2024, a total of 10 academicians with military-industrial backgrounds have been expelled from both academies.
In recent years, the purge within the Chinese Communist Party’s military has spread to the military-industrial system. According to official reports and media compilations, at least 12 military-industrial state-owned enterprises, including China National Nuclear Corporation, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, China Aviation Industry Corporation, China North Industries Group Corporation, and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, have had top-level personnel investigated, removed from their positions, or have not been publicly visible for an extended period of time.