The BBC Chinese website quoted expert analysis on Tuesday, stating that the fall of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member Ma Xingrui means that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign in the military-industrial system has now extended to the highest-level figures in China’s national defense industry.
Xinhua News Agency announced on Tuesday that Ma Xingrui, member of the CCP Politburo and former Party Secretary of Xinjiang, has been expelled from the Party and removed from his public posts (“double expelled”).
At the CCP’s 20th National Congress in 2022, Xi Jinping heavily promoted figures from the military-industrial system, appointing four individuals with such backgrounds to the Politburo in one fell swoop: including Ma Xingrui, former General Manager of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC); Yuan Jiajun, former Deputy General Manager of CASC and Chief Commander of the Shenzhou spacecraft; Zhang Guoqing, former General Manager of China North Industries Group (NORINCO); and Liu Guozhong, who also worked at NORINCO.
Before his fall, Ma Xingrui served as Party Secretary of Xinjiang. Yuan Jiajun is currently Party Secretary of Chongqing, while Zhang Guoqing and Liu Guozhong are both Vice Premiers of the State Council.
Li Cheng, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, analyzed after the 20th Congress that among Xi Jinping’s loyalists in his third term, many new types of technocrats have been reemployed. Unlike during the Jiang [Zemin] and Hu [Jintao] eras, this might be called “Technocrats 2.0.”
Chen Cheng, Professor of Political Science at SUNY Albany, told the BBC: “Although we do not yet know all the details, Ma’s fall is very likely related to the large-scale anti-corruption campaign currently underway in China’s military.”
The anti-corruption campaign in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) began several years ago with a purge of top leadership in the Rocket Force and has implicated many senior military officers, with repercussions also affecting the defense industry sector.
Chinese political-focused YouTube blogger “Zhong Gui Zhong Ju” pointed out that this round of anti-corruption in the central military-industrial state-owned enterprises (SOEs) started with aerospace SOEs most closely linked to the Rocket Force. This included all 11 vice-ministerial-level military-industrial group company heads, including from CASC, who were all taken down together. On December 24 last year, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference revoked the membership of eight national political advisers, seven of whom were vice-ministerial-level SOE chairmen, mainly concentrated in military-industrial SOEs.
“Ma’s downfall means that this campaign has already extended to the highest-ranking heavyweight figures in China’s national defense industry,” said Chen Cheng. “This is not surprising, given the extremely close ties between China’s aviation and aerospace industries and the military—especially the Rocket Force.”
Chen Cheng noted that as the investigation continues, Ma is unlikely to be the last implicated. “This shows Xi Jinping’s determination to root out corruption within China’s military and defense sectors.”