A formation of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Army takes part in a military parade celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 1, 2019. Photo:Xinhua

President Xi Jinping signed a presidential decree Tuesday to remove Li Shangfu as China’s State Councilor and Minister of National Defense, and to remove Qin Gang as State Councilor.

Li was also removed as a member of Central Military Commission on Tuesday. 

In March, the National People's Congress (NPC) endorsed secretary-general of the State Council and heads of 26 departments of the State Council at a plenary meeting of the first session of the 14th NPC, including Li as the minister of national defense, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Before being appointed as China's defense minister, Li used to be the director of China's main satellite launch sites in Xichang, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, and has played a major role in lunar exploration missions, making him an aerospace expert who was a senior official of China's space project, according to publicly available information.

He then served as the deputy commander of the Strategic Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army when the force was founded in late 2015, before becoming the head of the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC) in 2017.

When he was in charge of the CMC Equipment Development Department, the administration of then US President Donald Trump sanctioned him and the department in 2018 for purchasing Russian weapons, including Su-35 combat aircraft and S-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

The sanction later became a trouble to China-US military exchanges when Li became the Chinese defense minister.

Li made his last public appearance at the Third China-Africa Peace and Security Forum held in Beijing in August.

Qin was removed of his position as Foreign Minister in July.

Global Times