Where is Li Shangfu?: After Chinese Foreign Minister, now Defense Minister missing! Not seen in public for two weeks

After China's Foreign Minister King Gang, now there is no trace of China's Defense Minister Li Shangfu. US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel has made this claim in a post on X. In his post he wrote that China's Defense Minister has not been seen for the last two weeks. It is being claimed that he was last seen in public at the third Africa China Peace and Security Forum. Li gave his keynote speech at this conference held in Beijing. Let us tell you that Li Shangfu was appointed Defense Minister in March 2023.

After Li Shangfu's disappearance like this, all kinds of speculations have started. China's Defense Minister has gone missing while corruption cases related to a hardware purchase made five years ago are being investigated. It is noteworthy that this investigation was started in July. However, the Chinese Army says that it has been investigating these issues since October 2017. A Bloomberg report said Li was employed in the equipment department from September 2017 to 2022. However, there are no charges against him.

At the same time, when China's Defense Minister is missing, Xi Jinping had stressed the need for unity and stability within the army during an inspection in the northeastern region of China last Sunday. He said more efforts should be made to implement the education and management of troops and maintain a high level of unity, security and stability. Along with this, he also called upon the army to be ready for war.

Earlier, in July, Jinping had removed his Foreign Minister Qin Gang. Qin had been missing for nearly two months before his removal from office was announced. After this, Jinping made Wang Yi the new Foreign Minister. Apart from this, Jinping has also removed commanders Li Yuchao and Xu Zongbo from their posts. The Xi Jinping government has been criticized a lot for removing officials from their posts. After removing these people from the post, analysts keeping an eye on China affairs say that Jinping had taken this action due to corruption. However, China has not given any reaction on this.

According to experts, the treatment meted out to celebrities shows the Chinese government's efforts to ward off any challenge to its power. In the case of businessmen, it is said that the Chinese ruling party considers excess wealth in the hands of private businessmen of the country as a potential threat to itself.

During the tenure of President Xi Jinping and especially in the last few years, the trend of arresting such people and confiscating their assets has increased. It is believed that the clear message of power is that no one is above the party or beyond its reach.