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Military Mystery

Nearly all news reports about Central Military Commission vice chairman He Weidong have been removed from China’s defense ministry website, fueling speculation.
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Nearly all news reports about He Weidong (何衛東), vice chairman of China’s powerful Central Military Commission (中共中央軍委副主席), have been removed from the website of the country’s defense ministry, fueling speculation that he has fallen from grace. According to ETtoday (東森新聞雲), the removal of He-related content likely occurred last Friday, May 9.

A search for He’s name on the ministry website now yields only three results — all biography pages — compared to 203 results for fellow vice chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠). TaiSounds (太報) reports that just one article remains about He, dated March 10, describing him presiding over a military delegation meeting. He has not made any public appearances since the closing of the National People’s Congress on March 11 this year. The Financial Times reported back in April that He was dismissed on corruption allegations, potentially making him the first Central Military Commission vice chairman to fall while in office since China’s reform and opening up.

Lingua Sinica is an interactive online resource under the China Media Project (CMP) that explores the capacity and sustainability of Chinese-language media environments globally in their full domestic context and traces the lines of impact and engagement by PRC media and institutions.

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