Removal of Qin Gang and Li Shangfu

The Two Ministers

Qin Gang, born in 1966, joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1992, twice served as its spokesperson and later headed the Protocol Department and became vice foreign minister; he was ambassador to the United States from July 2021 and was appointed foreign minister on 30 December 2022. Li Shangfu, born in February 1958, spent more than 30 years at the PLA's Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, became deputy commander of the newly formed Strategic Support Force in 2016 and from 2017 headed the military's equipment procurement department; in 2018 the United States sanctioned him over the purchase of weapons from Russia's largest arms exporter. On 12 March 2023 the First Session of the 14th NPC, on Premier Li Qiang's nomination, made Li Shangfu, Qin Gang and others State Councilors, with Li also becoming defence minister.

Qin Gang's Removal as Foreign Minister

On 25 June 2023 Qin met Sri Lanka's foreign minister in Beijing; he was not seen in public again. The foreign ministry at one point attributed his absence to health reasons but soon removed the reference from its press conference transcript, saying thereafter only that it had no information to provide. On 25 July the fourth session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee removed Qin from his concurrent post of foreign minister and appointed Wang Yi in his place, and President Xi Jinping signed Presidential Order No. 8. No reason was given for Qin's removal.

The Rocket Force Shake-up and Li Shangfu's Removal

On 31 July 2023 the Central Military Commission held a ceremony promoting the Rocket Force's new commander, Wang Houbin, and new political commissar, Xu Xisheng, to the rank of general. The force's former commander, Li Yuchao, had not been seen in public for weeks, and Xinhua gave no explanation for his replacement.

On 29 August Li Shangfu gave a keynote speech at the China-Africa Peace and Security Forum in Beijing; it was his last public appearance. According to a later Party announcement, the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision opened a case against him for serious violations of discipline and law on 31 August. On 24 October the sixth session of the 14th NPC Standing Committee removed Li as State Councilor and defence minister and removed Qin as State Councilor. On 29 December the Standing Committee appointed Dong Jun defence minister and announced that Li Yuchao's status as an NPC deputy had terminated.

Outcomes

On 27 June 2024 a Politburo meeting adopted the CMC's report on Li Shangfu. It said he had used his position to benefit others in return for huge sums of money, constituting suspected bribe-taking, had given money to others to obtain improper benefits, constituting suspected bribe-giving, and had seriously polluted the political ecology of the military equipment sector; he was expelled from the Party and his case transferred to the military procuratorate. The CMC had already expelled him from the armed forces and stripped him of his rank of general. Former defence minister Wei Fenghe was expelled from the Party the same day.

On 18 July 2024 the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee confirmed the expulsions of Li Shangfu and of the Rocket Force's former commander Li Yuchao and former chief of staff Sun Jinming, and accepted Qin Gang's request to resign from the Central Committee. The authorities have never stated why Qin was removed. On 7 May 2026 the Military Court convicted Li Shangfu at first instance of bribe-taking and bribe-giving and sentenced him to death with a two-year reprieve, lifelong deprivation of political rights and confiscation of all personal property, to be followed by life imprisonment without commutation or parole once the reprieve is commuted; Wei Fenghe received the same sentence for bribe-taking that day.