China removes senior lawmakers, including military figures and top regulator

China’s top legislative body removed six military lawmakers, former financial regulator Li Yunze and recently investigated Politburo member Ma Xingrui from their posts in a sweep that cut across the army, finance and the party elite. The National People’s Congress Standing Committee announced the dismissals as it closed its 23rd session in Beijing on June 26 and gave no reason.

The lawmakers removed from the National People’s Congress included General Xu Xueqiang, who led the Central Military Commission’s Equipment Development Department and had also served as commander-in-chief of the Manned Space Programme since 2022, along with General Li Fengbiao, the former political commissar of the PLA Western Theatre Command, and General Guo Puxiao of the PLA Air Force. Other officers came from the PLA Eastern Theatre Command, the Cyberspace Force and the Army, underscoring how widely the personnel changes reached into China’s military structure.

Ma’s removal carried particular political weight. Xinhua said on April 3 that Ma, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, had been placed under disciplinary and supervisory investigation for suspected violations of Party discipline and national laws. Reuters later said Ma was the third Politburo member targeted in the previous six months, a rare level of scrutiny for someone still sitting at the top of the party hierarchy.

Li Yunze, who had led the National Financial Regulatory Administration, had already been demoted on April 29 amid a suspected disciplinary violation, and his name later disappeared from the regulator’s leadership list. Guan Zhi’ou was also removed as minister of natural resources in the same June 26 session, showing that the turnover was not confined to the military or financial watchdogs.

The removals fit the logic of Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption drive, which has already brought down or sidelined scores of senior officials and top generals. In China’s system, unexplained changes to lawmaker posts can function as a public signal that a deeper discipline case, loyalty review or internal power struggle is underway, especially when the names span defense production, space programs, banking oversight and provincial leadership. The absence of any official explanation leaves the latest moves as another reminder that consolidation at the top often arrives through routine-sounding notices with major political consequences.