A former Chinese aerospace defense executive has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party for corruption, China's anti-graft watchdog said on Monday, part of a sweeping anti-corruption purge across China's military-industrial complex.

The former chairman of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Tan Ruisong, "lived off the military sector" and took a huge amount in bribes, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

The move comes after 14 military delegates were expelled from China's national legislative body in the past two years, as part of a purge of the world's largest military unprecedented in size and scale.

These include four generals, eight lieutenant generals and two major generals. At least three more aerospace defense executives have been expelled from China's top political advisory body.

Tan "had lost his ideals and beliefs, betrayed his original aspirations," "accepted banquets" in violation of Party regulations, "engaged in power-for-sex transactions" and used his position to "seek profits for others in enterprise restructuring and ... contracting engineering projects," the unusually detailed statement said.

His case has been transferred to prosecutors, the statement added.

Reuters could not reach Tan for comment. State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tan's case comes three months after a senior Chinese military official, Miao Hua, was put under investigation for "serious violations of discipline."

Miao had been the People's Liberation Army's leading political officer and sat on the six-person Central Military Commission, the army's top command body headed by President Xi Jinping.

China's two previous defense ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, were also expelled from the Communist Party in June for corruption. Li's case in particular was connected to corrupt procurement of military equipment, Reuters reported.

Many of those ousted earlier were connected to the PLA Rocket Force - an elite arm of the PLA that oversees its most advanced conventional and nuclear missiles.

Analysts say that exposing deep-set graft could take time and potentially slow Xi's long-running military modernization plans.

Reuters

Reuters is a news agency founded in 1851 and owned by the Thomson Reuters Corporation based in Toronto, Canada. One of the world's largest wire services, it provides financial news as well as international coverage in over 16 languages to more than 1000 newspapers and 750 broadcasters around the globe.

Subscribe