Chinese general kills self amid corruption probe

The CMC is in charge of China’s armed forces — army, navy, air force and rocket force. It was reshuffled at the recently-concluded Communist Party of China’s 19th National Congress in October. Zhang and another general were left out as military delegates to the National Congress. Guo and Xu were former CMC vice-chairmen.

Zhang headed CMC Political Work Department, which is responsible for the military’s Party construction, organisation and political education. It is considered the military’s lifeline.

Xinhua reported the CMC held “talks” with Zhang to probe his links to Guo and Xu in August. “Investigators said that Zhang had seriously violated discipline and law. He was also suspected of offering and accepting bribes and holding a huge amount of property from unidentified sources,” Xinhua reported.

A commentary in the military’s PLA Daily called Zhang’s suicide “disgusting”.

“Evading the punishment of Party discipline and law by committing suicide was disgusting conduct…the case of Zhang Yang shows that a lot still needs to be done in eliminating the pernicious influence of Guo and Xu, and in the construction of Party conduct and honest, clean government, as well as in the fight corruption.”

President Xi Jinping has led a sweeping campaign against corruption over the last few years. Last week, top anti-graft watchdog announced Lu Wei, former deputy chief of the Party’s Publicity Department, was under investigation.