General Wang Ning, 71, was formally removed as a standing committee member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and vice-chair of its foreign affairs committee on Wednesday. The removal occurred during the closing session of the top political advisory body, which was presided over by Wang Huning, China’s fourth-ranking leader and chair of the CPPCC, according to Xinhua.
Wang Ning, who served as the commander of the People’s Armed Police (PAP) from 2014 to 2020, had disappeared from public view months ago and was absent from the annual “two sessions” legislative gathering in March.
The removal completes a sweep of more than 15 years in which three consecutive heads of the PAP have fallen from grace. Every general who held the post of PAP commander from 2009 to mid-2025 has been embroiled in corruption investigations. Wang’s predecessor, Wang Jianping, was detained in 2016, becoming the first sitting general placed under investigation after President Xi Jinping rose to power in late 2012. Wang’s successor, Wang Chunning, who took command of the PAP in 2020, was expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of his military rank for “serious violations of discipline and law” in October last year.
Wang Ning was born in Nanjing and grew up in a military family with deep roots in the Nanjing Military Region. He rose through the ranks of the Nanjing theatre and the Fujian-based 31st Group Army, serving as group army commander and deputy chief of general staff before his tenure at the PAP. A notable number of senior generals swept up in the military’s anti-corruption campaign share career origins in the former Nanjing Military Region and the 31st Group Army, which served as the long-time power base of fallen former Central Military Commission vice-chairman He Weidong and former Political Work Department director Miao Hua.
The downfall of these commanders highlights the intensity of the anti-corruption campaign led by Xi in the world’s second largest military. During the Communist Party’s fifth plenum held late last month, the party endorsed disciplinary penalties against 16 generals.
Additionally, two PAP lieutenant generals—deputy commanders Fu Wenhua, 61, and Zhu Wenxiang, 62—were among five alternate members of the current Central Committee passed over for promotion to full member. Fu previously served as commander of the Beijing garrison, while Zhu formerly commanded the PAP First Mobile Corps. While being passed over does not confirm that an officer is under formal investigation, it reflects the leadership’s deliberate caution and intense personnel screening.
