The sudden downfall of a top-flight general

China's ruling party says there will be no tolerance of corruption in the Party and the military, no matter how high ranking an official, after a top-level military general was expelled from the Party on the eve of its birthday.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, composed of the 25 most powerful people in the country, expelled Xu Caihou, the highest military official in the previous Chinese leadership, from the Party for corruption.

The political bureau also decided to expel three senior officials from the Party: Jiang Jiemin, former head of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council; Li Dongsheng, former vice-minister of public security; and Wang Yongchun, former deputy general manager of China National Petroleum Corporation.

1963-68: Student of the Electronics Engineering Department of Harbin Institute of Military Engineering

1968-70: Worked on the farm of the 39th Army

1970-85: Soldier and officer at the Shenyang Military Area Command

1985-92: Officer of various units of the 16th Group Army of the Ground Force

1992-96: Assistant director, deputy director of the PLA General Political Department

1996-99: Political commissar of the Jinan Military Area Command and secretary of its Party committee

1999-2000: Member of the Communist Party of China Central Military Commission, member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, executive deputy director of the PLA General Political Department, and deputy secretary of its Party Committee

2000-02: Member of the CPC Central Military Commission, member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and executive deputy director of the PLA General Political Department and concurrently secretary of the Discipline Inspection Committee of the CPC Central Military Commission and deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the PLA General Political Department

2002-04: Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, member of the CPC Central Military Commission, member of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China, and director of the PLA General Political Department and secretary of its Party committee

2004-07: Member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, vice-chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, member and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China

2007-12: Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, vice-chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission, and vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China

(China Daily Africa Weekly 07/04/2014 page31)