China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu under investigation: US officials

China’s defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu, has been placed under investigation, according to two US officials, fueling speculation about further upheaval in the military after the abrupt removal of two top commanders in charge of the country’s nuclear force.

Li has not been seen in public in more than two weeks. He had been expected to take part in a meeting last week in Vietnam, but there was no word of his attendance. Asked about Li’s whereabouts by reporters on Friday, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said she had no information.

The investigation points to questions about Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s confidence in his own military, a pillar of his ambitions abroad and dominance at home.

Just six weeks ago, Xi replaced the two most senior commanders of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which oversees China’s nuclear missiles. The abrupt dismissals suggested that Xi was seeking to reassert his control over the military and purge perceived corruption, disloyalty and dysfunction from its ranks, analysts have said.

Many experts believe that the military commanders may be accused of corruption, though some have said that suspicions of disloyalty toward Xi within the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, may be involved. In July, China also dismissed the foreign minister, Qin Gang — another official who had risen rapidly under Xi — without explanation. The two US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they believed Li had been placed under investigation on suspicion of corruption.

Su Tzu-yun, an expert on the People’s Liberation Army at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank in Taipei that is funded by the Taiwanese government, said he was more than 90 per cent sure that Li had been removed from his post.

“For Xi Jinping, this is a loss of face, and in the Chinese military and across China, people will notice, even if they don’t say so openly,” Su said. “It’s not going to force him from power, but it will erode his prestige as ruler.”

Li, 65, was promoted to minister of national defense in March, after late last year joining the Central Military Commission, the council led by Xi through which the party controls the military.