Chinese general under investigation dead in ‘suicide’

A CHINESE general who disappeared from public view during an investigation into corruption by senior military commanders was found dead at his home in Beijing after apparently committing suicide, state media said yesterday.

General Zhang Yang, committed suicide November 23, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said, citing China’s Central Military Commission. The Xinhua report said Zhang was living at home while he was being questioned in connection with unspecified corruption charges.

Zhang, 66, who had been director of the political department of the People’s Liberation Army, disappeared from public sight more than two months ago amid a crackdown on corruption by President Xi Jinping. Besides Zhang, General Fang Fenghui, a rising star in the Chinese military, also vanished from public view.

Zhang committed “serious violations of discipline and the law and was suspected of the crimes of bribery as well as huge amounts of assets in which the sources are unknown”, the Xinhua report said.

The Xinhua report said that at the time of his death, Zhang was being investigated for links to Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou, the two highest-ranking army commanders netted in Xi’s crackdown. Xi has used the sweeping anti-graft campaign to remove dozens of generals and tighten his control over the military, one of China’s most powerful institutions.

Xi has used the crackdown to modernise the People’s Liberation Army by ridding it of endemic corruption and elevating the professionalism of its officer corps. However, the removal of senior leaders like Zhang has also strengthened Xi’s grip on the military by allowing him to install commanders more loyal to him.