Li is the second senior government minister to have a prolonged unexplained absence in recent months.
that three US officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly to discuss sensitive intelligence, had concluded Li had been stripped of his responsibilities.
“First, Foreign Minister Qin Gang goes missing, then the Rocket Force commanders go missing, and now Defence Minister Li Shangfu hasn’t been seen in public for two weeks,” he wrote. “#MysteryInBeijingBuilding.”In July, China’s military launched an investigation into alleged corruption in military hardware procurement. Li was in charge of the program from 2017 to 2022, but no explicit connection between irregularities in the procurement and Li’s disappearance has been made.
That job has been made more difficult by US sanctions on Li over the purchase of Russian fighter jets in 2018. Despite growing international tensions over Taiwan and Ukraine, Li has refused to meet with serving US generals until the sanctions are removed.In Russia in mid-August Li warned the US against “playing with fire” over the future of Taiwan, echoing Xi’s position on the democratic island.
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