Philip Wen The Communist Party has expelled one of its most senior retired military leaders from its ranks for alleged corruption, as President Xi Jinping deepens a campaign to clean up and modernise China's armed forces.
Guo Boxiong, a 73-year-old former vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, was handed over to military prosecutors after investigators found he had accepted bribes in exchange for granting promotions, official news agency Xinhua reported late on Thursday.
"His acts seriously violated the Communist Party's discipline and left a vile impact," it said.
The decision was sealed at a Politburo meeting presided over by Mr Xi, Xinhua said, and came on the eve of the People's Liberation Army's anniversary on Friday.
The PLA has also been carrying out a series of live-fire drills in the South China Sea, which have added to the already heightened tensions with its neighbours in the disputed waters.
The military has been a core focus of Mr Xi's campaign against official corruption. The extent of corruption, including the buying and selling of military ranks in China's armed forces, have prompted questions over the calibre of the PLA's personnel and its combat-readiness.
The drive to clean up the army comes as Mr Xi, China's commander-in-chief, seeks to modernise the force and project power across disputed waters in East Asia and Southeast Asia. China is also planning a large-scale military parade in early September to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of Japan's surrender during the Second World War.
Guo is the most senior military official to be investigated for corruption in the ongoing anti-graft campaign. It comes more than a year after the downfall of another top general Xu Caihou, who died of cancer in March before facing charges.
Guo's downfall had been foreshadowed by a probe into his major-general son, Guo Zhenggang, who was detained in March. His younger brother, Guo Boquan, was also investigated by anti-corruption investigators in Shaanxi province who found that he misappropriated tens of millions of yuan of disaster relief funds to build apartments for sale.
