The strange disappearance of China’s Defence Minister Li Shangfu, who is being investigated for corruption, is only the most recent example of a prominent person in President Xi Jinping‘s entourage going missing. The disappearance is frequently the first visible evidence that an official is being investigated by the feared Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, a Chinese Communist Party watchdog responsible for regulating officials accused of breaching party or state laws.
If the official is from the military, the Discipline Inspection Commission of the People’s Liberation Army will conduct the investigation. The watchdog’s previous disclosures demonstrate that acts under investigation span from corruption to political disloyalty to extramarital affairs. Previous disappearances have lasted weeks or even months, like in the instance of former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who has been missing since June 25.
A list of recent disappearances of Chinese officials :
1. Li Shangfu, Chinese defense minister
Chinese public face of the military, Li, is under investigation for fraudulent acquisition of military equipment, according to 10 sources acquainted with the case. Li was last spotted in Beijing on August 29 giving a keynote lecture at an African security event. He had visited Russia and Belarus earlier in the month. The investigation began soon after he returned from that vacation. On September 3, his ministry canceled Li’s trip to Vietnam for an annual defense meeting scheduled for September 7-8, citing health reasons, according to Vietnamese officials.
2. Qin Gang, China’s former foreign minister
Qin was a rising political star until this July when he was deprived of his position as foreign minister without explanation. He was allowed to keep his official title of State Councillor, which outranks the minister but has little real power on its own, despite being a former valued aide to President Xi Jinping and former envoy to the United States. He was last seen on June 25 in Beijing, where he was meeting with peers from Russia and Vietnam. Qin had an adulterous affair while serving as ambassador to the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with a briefing.
3. Xiao Yaqing, China’s former industry minister
Xiao, the minister of industry and information technology, vanished from public view in early July last year, and the official media reported three weeks later that he was being investigated for corruption. China’s former industry minister was particularly visible in his promotion of China’s new energy vehicle industry, which is the world’s largest. In December, he was ousted from the Communist Party for bribery and deprived of his government duties.
4. Xu Zhongbo and Li Yuchao
Another missing military general is Li Yuchao, 60, who was given command of Chinese conventional and nuclear missiles in January of last year. In July of this year, Beijing announced a leadership change at the Rocket unit, replacing Li with a navy general, breaking with the traditional practice of appointing someone from the same unit to lead it. The Rocket Force also received a new political commissar, who was not a member of the force. Xu Zhongbo was replaced by a Southern Theatre Command air force general. Li Yuchao and Xu Zhongbo haven’t been seen in public in months.