Party expels senior military officer for breach of discipline

A senior military officer has been expelled from the Communist Party of China, according to a key meeting concluded on Thursday.

Yang Jinshan, a lieutenant-general and former deputy head of the Chengdu Military Area Command, gravely violated Party discipline, according to a decision made at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, which started on Monday.

Under the Party's rules and regulations, the highest penalty for a Party member is to strip him or her of membership. Those suspected of breaking criminal laws are transferred to judicial authorities and prosecuted.

Yang was also stripped of membership in the CPC Central Committee during the meeting. The committee has 205 members, mostly senior Party and government officials. Yang, 60, had worked at the Chengdu Military Area Command since he joined the army in 1969. The Chengdu Military Area Command is in charge of national defense work in Chongqing, in the Tibet autonomous region, and in Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces. Yang, who assumed his post in July 2013, had kept a low profile in previous media reports.

On Nov 10, 2011, accompanied by Bo Xilai, then-Party secretary of Chongqing municipality, Yang attended a military drill in Chongqing, according to a report published by cqnew.net, a website run by the Chongqing municipal government. On Sept 22, 2013, Bo was sentenced to life in prison for bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.

Military authorities have stepped up their supervision of corrupt activities in recent years amid the national anti-graft campaign.

On June 20, Xu Caihou, former vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, was expelled from the Party and transferred to military prosecutors for further investigation on bribery charges.

On March 31, the military procuratorate charged Gu Junshan, former deputy head of the PLA General Logistics Department, with embezzlement, bribery, misuse of State funds and abuse of power.