CHINA EXPELS AEROSPACE EXECUTIVE FOR CORRUPTION
A former Chinese aerospace defence executive has been expelled from the ruling Communist Party for corruption, China's anti-graft watchdog said on Monday, part of a sweeping anti-corruption purge across China's military-industrial complex. The former chairman of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, Tan Ruisong, "lived off the military sector" and took a huge amount in bribes, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. This move comes after 14 military delegates were expelled from China's national legislative body in the past two years, as part of a purge of the world's largest military unprecedented in size and scale.
- The extent to which corruption is allowed to flourish at such high levels within China's military-industrial complex will be revealed only when more senior officials are held accountable for their actions.
- How will this series of expulsions impact China's relations with Western nations, who have long viewed the country's opaque defence procurement processes as a major source of concern?