Jinping started an investigation against his own minister, he is the third defense minister to be accused of corruption.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's army has ordered an investigation against its own defense minister. In fact, several serious allegations of corruption in the People's Liberation Army have been leveled against Defense Minister Dong Jun, which are being investigated.

The surprising thing is that Dong Jun became the Defense Minister of China only 11 months ago and he is the third Defense Minister of China to be accused of corruption. Even before this, two Defense Ministers of China had to leave their posts on charges of corruption.

Corruption investigation, Defence Minister in trouble!

British newspaper The Financial Times reported, citing former and current US officials familiar with the matter, that Dong Jun is the latest officer to come under investigation as part of the ongoing campaign against corruption in the Chinese military. Meanwhile, when China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning was questioned about the FT report during a news briefing, she called it baseless.

As part of the anti-corruption drive being carried out in the Chinese military since last year, so far nine PLA generals and four defense industry officials have been removed from the national legislative body.

Dong Jun, who is responsible for China's military diplomacy as Defense Minister, was recently overseeing the matter of military relations between China and the US. In September, during the first commander-level meeting between the two countries, he advocated improving relations.

Third Defence Minister to be embroiled in corruption case

Before Dong, two defense ministers in China were accused of similar things. Before Dong Jun, former defense minister Li Shangfu was removed due to corruption charges. Shangfu could stay in this post for only 7 months and after the corruption charges, he disappeared after giving a speech at an event last year. Li was expelled from the Communist Party on several charges including taking bribes.

Before Li Shangfu, China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe has also been accused of corruption. Like Li, the Communist Party expelled Wei Fenghe from the party and started an investigation into corruption cases. Regarding Wei and Li, the Communist Party had said in its old statement that, 'Both the leaders broke the trust of the party and the Central Military Commission, polluted the political and military environment and damaged the image of senior leaders.'

The Communist Party had accused both of them of taking huge amounts of money as bribes and personal benefits. According to experts, this is a big blow to the Communist Party of China.

'A big blow to the Communist Party'

"It's certainly a shock because one would think they would be very careful to put someone who is very clean and tidy in this role," Dylan Logue, an assistant professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, told news agency AFP.

He said that China has a long history of relations between the PLA and the business world, so such investigations targeting military officials are normal. According to reports, two other high-ranking officers from the Rocket Force of the Chinese Army have been expelled on charges of corruption.