Nine senior PLA officials expelled from CPC

Nine senior People's Liberation Army officials, including He Weidong, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, have been expelled from the Communist Party of China for disciplinary violations and alleged serious duty-related crimes, a Chinese defense spokesman announced.

Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, made the announcement in a news release on Friday.

In addition to He, the other eight are Miao Hua, former head of the CMC's Political Work Department; the department's former deputy head He Hongjun; Wang Xiubin, former deputy chief of the CMC joint operations command center; Lin Xiangyang, former commander of the PLA Eastern Theater Command; Qin Shutong, former political commissar of the PLA Ground Force; Yuan Huazhi, former political commissar of the PLA Navy; Wang Houbin, former commander of the PLA Rocket Force; and Wang Chunning, former commander of the People's Armed Police Force.