China has sentenced two former defence ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, to death with a reprieve for corruption. Under Chinese law, a death sentence with reprieve is almost always commuted to life imprisonment after a two-year suspension period, meaning neither man is expected to be executed.

Wei Fenghe served as defence minister from 2018 to 2023. Li Shangfu succeeded him but held the post for only eight months before being removed in 2023 without explanation. Both men were also senior military officials within the People's Liberation Army, giving them access to procurement budgets and weapons contracts worth hundreds of billions of yuan.

Part of a Broader Military Purge

Their sentencing follows a sweeping anti-corruption drive inside the PLA that has ensnared some of the most senior figures in China's military establishment. Several generals from the Rocket Force, which controls China's nuclear and ballistic missile arsenal, were also removed or investigated around the same time. The scale and seniority of those targeted is unusual even by the standards of Xi Jinping's decade-long anti-graft campaign.

The suspended death sentence is a specific legal tool in China's judicial system. After the two-year reprieve, the sentence is reviewed and, in practice, almost always reduced to life in prison without parole or a fixed-term sentence. It is considered more severe than a straight life sentence but stops short of execution, often used in cases involving senior officials where the state wants to signal maximum severity without carrying out the penalty.

What This Means

For China's defence establishment, the verdicts send a pointed signal about accountability at the very top of the military hierarchy. Both men sat on the Central Military Commission, the body that directly commands China's armed forces under Xi, making these among the highest-profile military corruption convictions in decades.

The cases also raise questions about the integrity of PLA procurement and equipment programmes during the period both men oversaw. Corruption in weapons acquisition can affect actual military readiness, a concern that outside analysts have flagged when assessing the real capability of Chinese forces.

Watch for whether additional senior figures face charges, and whether Xi uses these verdicts to accelerate structural reforms inside the PLA's procurement and logistics chains.