The 4-day Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to a close on July 18th at the Jingxi Guesthouse in Beijing. The meeting’s official communiqué revealed that Central Alternate Committee member and Rocket Force Chief of Staff Sun Jinming was officially ousted, while Vice Admiral Ding Xingnong was conspicuously “skipped” when being replaced as a Central Alternate Committee member, raising suspicions of his potential downfall.
The CCP’s 20th Third Plenary Session concluded today (18th) and issued a communiqué addressing anti-corruption and personnel matters. It announced the resignation of Qin Gang from the Central Committee, and confirmed the Party’s previous expulsion of Li Shangfu, Li Yuchao, and Sun Jinming from the Political Bureau, based on the review reports by the Central Military Commission of the CCP. Ding Xiangqun, Yu Lijun, and Yu Jihong were appointed as members of the Central Committee to fill the vacancies of Central Alternate Committee members.
Li Shangfu was ousted from the position of Minister of National Defense last August, and in June of this year, he was expelled from the CCP and the military, with his rank as a Army General stripped. Li Yuchao was relieved of his duties as Rocket Force Commander in June last year, and his position as a national People’s Congress representative was revoked last year as well. Sun Jinming’s downfall is being publicly revealed for the first time.
Public information indicates that Sun Jinming, born in March 1965 in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province, previously served as Deputy Commander of the Second Artillery 52 Base and Commander of the Rocket Force 69 Base. He was promoted to Commander of the Rocket Force 64 Base in 2018 and to Chief of Staff of the Rocket Force in March 2022. Sun was promoted to Major General in August 2016 and to Lieutenant General in March 2022.
After the exposure of the Rocket Force corruption case last year, former Navy Colonel Yao Cheng from the CCP Navy Command posted on X on October 13, 2023, stating that two Lieutenant Generals, Sun Jinming, Rocket Force Chief of Staff, and Li Chuanguang, Deputy Commander, were taken away together from the meeting room.
In addition, the communiqué of the CCP’s Third Plenary Session stated that Ding Xiangqun, Yu Lijun, and Yu Jihong were appointed as members of the Central Committee to fill the vacancies of Central Alternate Committee members.
According to CCP convention, in the event of a vacancy among Central Committee members, the candidate with the highest number of votes from the alternate committee members is elected successively. Previously, top-ranking Central Alternate Committee members included Ding Xiangqun (female, member of the Anhui Provincial Committee and Minister of Organization), Ding Xingnong (Deputy Political Commissar of the Rocket Force), Yu Lijun (Sichuan Provincial Committee and Minister of Organization), followed by Yu Jihong (President of Beijing Normal University).
The decision to “skip” Ding Xingnong this time has sparked public debate on whether he may have encountered issues.
Ding Xingnong, born in 1963 in Jianhu, Jiangsu, holds the rank of Lieutenant General and has served as Deputy Minister of the General Equipment Department’s Political Department, Political Commissar of the General Equipment Department’s Engineering Design Research Institute. In 2008, he became the Secretary of the Party Committee and Political Commissar of China Satellite Maritime Tracking Department. In March 2012, he became Director of the Political Department of the General Equipment Department. He has also served as Political Commissar of the Network Systems Department of the Strategic Support Force. In December 2021, he became Director of the Political Work Department of the Strategic Support Force. In April 2024, he was transferred to Deputy Political Commissar of the Rocket Force. He has also been a member of the CCP’s Nineteenth Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Since last year, authorities have been investigating corruption cases in military equipment procurement, with the Rocket Force being a “hard-hit area.” Those implicated include the first three Rocket Force Commanders, Wei Fenghe, Zhou Yaning, and Li Yuchao. Other individuals involved include former Minister of the Rocket Force Equipment Department, Lv Hong, among others. There are also a number of heads of military industrial enterprises who have fallen due to their involvement in corruption scandals.
Continued investigation and action to address corruption within the military remain ongoing as the CCP tightens its grip on governance and accountability in various sectors.