China's list of disappearing leaders continues to grow
China's top diplomat, then the commander and political commissar of the People's Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), and now the country's minister of defense. The list of disappearing leaders just continues to mount, as Beijing draws a veil of secrecy over the obvious failure of the regime's efforts to curb personal greed and excesses.
Speculation about the fate of Defense Minister Li Shangfu took on a new luster when US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel cheekily tweeted that the «unemployment rate» in the Chinese government was very high.
On 15 September, The Wall Street Journal reported that Li had been removed from his post.
The authorities have refused to divulge anything meaningful about the mysterious disappearance of the defense minister, who has not been seen or heard from since 29 August when he attended a security forum with African nations in Beijing. Since then, he has missed important meetings such as a trip to Vietnam and a Beijing appointment with Singapore's navy chief.
Beijing told Vietnam that Li had a «health condition».
While it is possible Li is unwell or indisposed in some way, the government's refusal to provide a detailed explanation suggests something more ominous. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman merely said she was «not aware of the situation».
Of course, this is the normal modus operandi for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which prefers secrecy rather than transparency.
As of 18 September, Li was still listed on the MND's website as a CMC member, and as a state councilor on the State Council website. If it turns out that Li has in fact been purged, as many currently suspect, he would join the only other Chinese sitting defense ministers to be dismissed, Peng Dehuai in 1959 and Lin
