After the conclusion of this year’s “Two Sessions” in March, the deputy chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Military Commission, He Weidong, who had been missing, has been judged by the outside world to have fallen from grace. The latest news is that he has taken his own life. Suicide incidents in the CCP are increasingly sensitive as they reach higher levels. What does it signify if He Weidong is indeed deceased?
Independent commentator Cai Shenkun revealed early in the morning of May 24 in a video program that He Weidong has also “gone” (died). He mentioned that He Weidong was arrested after the “Two Sessions” ended, initially being tried at the 301 Hospital and later held in Baoding. However, what is bizarre is that in mid-May, the guards who were watching over He Weidong had all returned to Beijing, and even the chef who took care of He Weidong’s daily life had also returned to Beijing.
“The latest information indicates that He Weidong ‘left’ before He Hongjun, on May 2nd at the 301 Hospital.”
On May 19, Cai Shenkun posted on social media X, citing information from a whistleblower in Beijing, that the Deputy Political Commissar of the Military Commission’s Political Work Department, General He Hongjun, committed suicide while under disciplinary detention, and despite emergency rescue efforts at the 301 Hospital, he passed away on the afternoon of May 18.
According to Cai Shenkun’s revelations, He Weidong also died by suicide. This news comes merely two months after He Weidong was reportedly detained following the closing of the National People’s Congress on March 11.
Over the past two years, there have been continuous revelations of purges within the Chinese military from overseas sources. Individuals such as Cai Shenkun, former Chinese media person Zhao Lanjian, and former Chinese Navy Colonel Yao Cheng, among others, have had their previous revelations about the downfall of Chinese officials proven true.
Since Xi Jinping came to power, power struggles within the CCP have intensified, leading to abnormal deaths of officials in the party, government, and military spheres. However, it is rare for high-ranking officials to be publicly announced as having died by suicide. The only case officially declared as suicide was that of Zhang Yang, former director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission in 2017. In contrast, rumors circulated online about the high-ranking officials who died by suicide, including Ren Xuefeng, former Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee in 2019, and Liao Guoxun, Mayor of Tianjin in 2022.
Since 2023, such mysterious deaths of high-ranking officials have become particularly frequent.
In July 2023, former Deputy Commander of the Rocket Army Wu Guohua was officially announced to have “died due to ineffective medical treatment,” but the son of former Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Zhen, Major General Zhang Xiaoyang, shared on social media that Wu Guohua had “hanged himself” in the bathroom on the third floor of his home. In the same month, three months after the death of Wang Shaojun, former director of the Central Security Bureau, Xinhua News Agency reported that he had died due to “ineffective medical treatment.” The true cause of Wang Shaojun’s death also sparked speculation.
In July 2023, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the CCP Qin Gang, who was dismissed from his position, is still unaccounted for, with rumors suggesting “Qin Gang has died.” Gao Zhikai, a translator for the late CCP leader Deng Xiaoping, who was acquainted with Qin Gang, once told foreign media, “You will never see him (Qin Gang).”
In October 2023, former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang passed away suddenly in Shanghai. Allegations of foul play in Li Keqiang’s death circulated, and Gu Wanming, a former director of the Guangdong branch of Xinhua News Agency who publicly questioned the cause of Li Keqiang’s death, was inexplicably sentenced to one year in prison by the CCP under the charge of “provocation.”
On December 10, 2024, Yu Jianhua, the Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the General Administration of Customs of the CCP, was officially declared to have “died due to an unforeseen illness,” but it was rumored online that he had “committed suicide in his office.”
The CCP has a history of handling or secretly executing officials. Former high-ranking official Zhou Guogang, who relocated to the United States in recent years, once mentioned attending a party class where an official from the National Military Commission of the CCP claimed that many officials are sentenced to death each year but it is never made public.
Recently, Chinese scholar Yuan Hongbing told Epoch Times that the CCP imposes two cruel punishments on fallen military officers: “One is not allowing them to sleep, locking military officers in a room with an iron door and smashing the door with an iron hammer when they are about to fall asleep, causing them to jolt awake. Most people cannot handle this for more than five days before their mental state collapses. Another method is locking them in a solitary confinement room known as a ‘live coffin,’ with no light except for a small round hole in the ceiling as a skylight, dropping food down from above daily. Excretion is confined to the small area within the coffin-like space, with a waterway running through the room. Those placed in such rooms generally break down and confess within seven days.” He also indicated that political commissars in the military understand this system, so when they run into trouble, they would rather choose to take their own lives.
The CCP is the largest cult in the world, with its atheistic and evolutionary ideologies reducing human life to mere proteins, allowing for rampant slaughter. The proliferation of suicides among officials and subsequent cover-ups of scandals underscores the barbarism and hidden nature of the CCP cult’s internal struggles. Every follower of the CCP could potentially become a sacrificial lamb in the meat grinder of this authoritarian regime.
The latest waves of rumors surrounding high-ranking official suicides coincide with the timeframe when CCP leader Xi Jinping fell from power. Up to this point, the military purges since 2023 have mostly targeted individuals affiliated with Xi Jinping’s faction.
In November last year, Xi Jinping’s top confidant in the military – Member of the Central Military Commission, Miao Hua, Director of the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission – was announced to have been purged. The recent incident involving He Weidong, who was considered the second most trusted confidant in Xi’s military circle, after Miao Hua, rose through the ranks rapidly after the 20th Congress, being promoted to a member of the CCP’s Political Bureau and Deputy Chairman of the Central Military Commission.
Both Miao Hua and He Weidong were part of the network of friends that Xi Jinping built in Fujian. While Miao Hua became Xi’s top confidant, He Weidong, despite having a higher rank, was second. This could be attributed to Miao Hua earning Xi’s trust earlier, already being a member of the Military Commission and head of the Political Work Department before the 19th Congress of the CCP, overseeing personnel matters within the military. It is said that He Weidong’s promotion at the 20th Congress originated from transactions involving influence and money with Miao Hua.
Following Miao Hua’s fall, a large group of his affiliated generals were reported to be under investigation, including He Hongjun and He Weidong. If He Hongjun, who was also personally promoted by Xi and allegedly committed suicide, as well as the even higher-level Xi confidant He Weidong, took their own lives, what does it signify?
The author believes that at the very least, this echoes rumors about Vice Chairman of the Military Commission, Zhang Youxia, being supported by the CCP’s elderly leadership to purge Xi’s allies. The severe mistreatment of He Weidong and He Hongjun demonstrates Zhang Youxia’s ruthless crackdown on Xi’s allies, revealing his disrespect for Xi. If they did commit suicide, it was not to protect their master but because they could no longer endure the mental and physical torment they were subjected to.
Recent rumors circulating about discussions in Zhongnanhai to “oust Xi” reflect the criticality of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee scheduled for this autumn.
The prophecies in the Chinese ancient book “Tui Bei Tu,” the strangest book in Chinese history, refer to the 46th figure: “A military man carrying a bow, claiming to be an old man with white hair, a golden sword hidden in the east gate, a brave warrior entering the emperor’s palace from the back door,” pointing towards the changes in Zhongnanhai during the era of Xi. Some have previously suggested that the individual named “Zhang Youxia,” with “bow” in his name, fits the description of the “man carrying a bow” in “Tui Bei Tu.” If this proves true, for Xi, a major disaster might be imminent.
Epoch Times was the first to report on this.