China jails corrupt senior army commander for life
A FORMER top Chinese general has been given a life sentence for taking and distributing bribes and possessing a large amount of property whose origins he could not account for.
Fang Fenghui, former chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s joint staff department, is the latest military figure to fall in President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on corruption and waste at all levels of the government and military.
Fang was expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of his rank in October ahead of his court martial. A brief report by the official Xinhua News Agency gave no details of the accusations against him.
Corruption has long been considered rife within the PLA, with some top generals reported to have accumulated vast fortunes in cash and gifts, including golden statues of Mao Zedong and cases of expensive alcohol stacked to the ceiling in underground caches.
Along with the selling of ranks and positions, practices such as embezzlement of housing and welfare funds were seen as damaging morale, discipline and combat preparedness, something Mr Xi, a former military officer, has been eager to change.
Two former top generals and members of the Central Military Commission controlling the armed forces, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, had earlier become high-profile targets of Mr Xi’s campaign.
The sentence on Fang came as China backed Tanzania’s sentencing of a Chinese woman labelled the “ivory queen” to 15 years in jail for smuggling elephant tusks, and reaffirmed its opposition to trading in endangered species.
Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China supports the Tanzanian authorities in conducting a “just” investigation and trial and is “ready to work with the international community to protect wildlife and curb the international trade”.
Yang Fenglan was convicted of smuggling about 700 elephant tusks and her case was viewed as a major test of Africa-wide efforts to hold key trafficking figures accountable for the mass killing of elephants to supply ivory to illegal markets, including in China.
China has cracked down on smuggling in recent years and a total ban on all trade in ivory products came into effect last year.
Meanwhile, Beijing is preventing foreign travellers from visiting Tibet for several weeks amid a pair of sensitive political anniversaries questioning the legitimacy of Beijing’s rule over the Himalayan region.
Travel agencies said foreign tourists would not be allowed back into Tibet until April 1.