China's ruling Communist Party has expelled a former top general who killed himself during a corruption probe and indicted another on graft charges amid President Xi Jinping's continuing crackdown on military malfeasance.
Official media reported that Zhang Yang killed himself at home last November, after which they denounced his death as a "despicable" act to escape punishment.
Tuesday's announcement renewed those accusations and said Zhang had been kicked out of the party and posthumously stripped of his rank. It said assets related to his crimes would be seized.
Zhang formerly headed the Political Work Department under the government and party commissions that oversee the People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing military.
The other general, Fang Fenghui, was also expelled and stripped of his rank, state media reported. He now faces a court martial on corruption allegations.
Fang, formerly chief of the PLA's joint staff department, dropped out of public view last year, shortly after an August 2017 meeting with the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford.
In their reports, the official Xinhua News Agency and other state media said Fang "seriously violated the party's political discipline and political rules," along with additional stipulations for members of the military laid down by Xi, who heads the joint commissions overseeing the armed forces. Xinhua said he is suspected of both offering and taking bribes and of having a "huge amount" of assets for which he could not account.
"The influence is vile," Xinhua said. "He is politically degenerated and economically greedy."
The judgment against Zhang even after his death underscores the relentlessness of Xi's broad-ranging and politically charged crackdown on corruption that has felled scores of mid-to-high-ranking officials since he came to power in late 2012. Xi also heads the party and this year had the constitution altered to allow him to remain in power indefinitely.
The campaign, under which more than a million officials have been investigated and hundreds of thousands disciplined, has strengthened Xi's iron grip on the party and military while eliminating political threats and helping make him the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation.
While popular among a public inured to corruption at all levels, the drive has been criticized outside China as trampling on the legal system since it is spearheaded by the ruling party's internal disciplinary body rather than state prosecutors.
Among others recently ensnared is the former president of Interpol, Meng Hongwei, who vanished after traveling to China late last month from France, where the global anti-crime body is headquartered. Days later, China said Meng was under investigation for graft and possibly other crimes, although there are heavy suspicions he had fallen out of political favor with Xi. His wife, Grace Meng, said she received a threatening phone call from a man speaking Chinese and is under police protection in France.
Xi has also undertaken a thoroughgoing reform of the PLA, reorganizing its structure and shrinking the size of the Central Military Commissions from nine to seven members.
No further details were given about the charges against Zhang, although earlier reports said investigators closed in on him using testimony given by two other former top generals, Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong, who had earlier become high-profile targets of Xi's campaign.
Xu and Guo had also been members of the Central Military Commission. Xu died of cancer in 2015 before facing a court martial, while Guo was sentenced to life in prison in 2016.
Corruption has long been considered rife within the PLA, with some top generals reported to have accumulated vast fortunes in cash and gifts, including golden statues of Mao Zedong and cases of expensive liquor stacked to the ceiling in underground caches.
Along with the selling of ranks and positions, practices such as embezzlement of housing and welfare funds are believed to have severely damaged the force's morale, discipline and combat preparedness, something Xi, a former military officer, has been eager to change.
DETROIT (AP) — The Oakland Athletics no longer have to wonder where they'll play the next few seasons. That won't make the long goodbye any easier.
The A's reacted to the announcement that this will be their last year in Oakland with a mixture of sadness and relief.
“At least as a player, you know where you’re headed,” outfielder Seth Brown said Friday before a game against the Tigers in Detroit. “There’s obviously a lot of moving parts, a lot of stuff we’re not privy to, so it’s just been kind of a waiting game on our end. Where are we going to go? Where are we going to be? So I think just having that knowledge -- at least we know where we’re going to be playing next year.”
Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher announced Thursday that the A’s will temporarily relocate to West Sacramento's Sutter Health Park for at least three seasons. The A's are moving to Las Vegas after a new ballpark is constructed.
The River Cats, who are affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, will continue to play at the same facility.
Fisher was unable to reach an agreement with Oakland city officials on extending the lease at Oakland Coliseum, which expires at the end of this season. The A's have played in the city since 1968.
“There's direction now, which we've talked a lot about,” Oakland A's manager Mark Kotsay said. “We've got time to kind of reflect on what this really means from an organizational standpoint, the history that we've had in Oakland, with this being now the final season. There's a lot of emotion that goes behind this.”
It will not only cause some upheaval for the players and staff but also members of the organization that work behind the scenes.
“At the end of the day, we know where we're going to be for the next three seasons after the finish this year and that in itself gives a little bit of stability,” Kotsay said. “At the same time, in the present, it's challenging in certain ways to think about the finality of this organization in Oakland.”
Sacramento will be a much smaller environment to house a major league team. Ranadivé said the River Cats venue currently seats 16,000 when counting the stands, the lawn behind center field and standing room only.
First baseman Ryan Noda is concerned with the facilities. He's hopeful that significant upgrades will be made, much like the Toronto Blue Jays did at Buffalo's Triple-A facility. The Blue Jays played at Buffalo's Sahlen Field in 2020 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“New walls, new dugouts, new locker rooms — everything they needed to become a big league stadium,” said Noda, who played some games in Sacramento as a minor leaguer. “As long as we can do something like that, then it'll be all right. But it's definitely going to be different than playing in stadiums that hold 40,000 people.”
Kotsay is confident the upgrades will occur.
“I know it will be of major league baseball quality,” he said. “It's has to be of major league baseball quality. I know the Players Association will make sure that takes place, as they did in Buffalo.”
For the rest of this season, the A's will have to deal with small home crowds and disappointed fans.
“We’re sad for the fans, the diehard fans, who always come to our games, always support us, always support the boys wearing the jersey,” Noda said.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, center, shakes hands John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics, before the start of a news conference where Fisher announced his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4 2024.The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, announces that his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Sutter Health Park, home of the Triple A team Sacramento River Cats, is shown in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. The Oakland Athletics announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Oakland Athletics manager Mark Kotsay walks to the dugout after making a pitching change during the eighth inning of the team's baseball game against the Cleveland Guardians in Oakland, Calif., Sunday, March 31, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
