Xu Caihou (Chinese: 徐才厚; pinyin: Xú Cáihòu; June 1943 – March 2015) was a general in the People's Liberation Army of China and Vice-Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the country's top military council. As Vice-Chairman of the CMC, he also held a seat on the Politburo of the Communist Party of China between 2007 and 2012.

Born to a working-class family in Liaoning province, Xu spent much of his earlier career in northeastern China. He moved to Beijing in 1990 to become political commissar of the 16th Group Army, later serving as editor of the PLA's flagship newspaper, The PLA Daily. In 1996 he became political commissar of the Jinan Military Region.

He became Vice-Chairman of the CMC in September 2004. He retired from public office in March of 2013.

Xu was put under investigation on allegations of bribery in March 2014, in one of the highest profile military corruption investigations in PLA history, and was expelled from the Communist Party in June 2014. He was also stripped of his general rank and discharged from the PLA. He died in March 2015 from cancer; consequently military prosecutors chose not to continue pursuing charges against him.

Early life and education

Xu was born in 1943 to a working-class family in the town of Wafangdian, Liaoning province; his parents were factory workers. He attended No. 8 Middle School in present-day Dalian. He achieved high scores on his Gaokao exams and was admitted to the elite Harbin Military Engineering Institute in Harbin, where he studied electrical engineering. The institute was a feeder school for the army, and produced many graduates who later went on to become high-ranking officers in the PLA. In April 1966, just prior to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, Xu Caihou, along with all the students attending the institute, were mandated by the government to leave the military to take on civilian jobs.

He graduated in 1968, in the midst of the Cultural Revolution, and was sent to the countryside to perform manual agricultural labour for over a year on a military-run farm in Tangyuan County in China's northeastern hinterlands. Subsequently, due to his being of proletarian class background (his parents were factory workers), he was allowed the 'privilege' of re-joining the army. Xu enlisted in the spring of 1970 as an officer cadet and was stationed in Jilin province. After joining the officer corps, it took him four years to earn his first promotion.

Career

After the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping was eager to promote young university graduates as part of his military-reform program. Most of the commanding officers of the PLA at the time had only informal or middle school-level education. Beginning in 1982, Xu earned a series of quick promotions. Xu served in Jilin province for much of his early career, generally in roles that facilitated military-political relations.

He became the political commissar of the 16th Group Army in 1990 and was promoted to major general shortly thereafter. In an incident upon moving to Beijing for work, Xu was offered an air conditioner to cope with the city's summer heat, as a gift from a classmate in university. He reportedly refused the offer, on the grounds that he did not want to have a privilege that his superior officer, who was managing without an air conditioner, lacked.

Next, Xu served as the chief editor of the People's Liberation Army Daily newspaper; he stayed on the role for just over a year, being promoted again to lieutenant general in the process.

In 1996, he became the political commissar of the Jinan Military Region. the supreme military policy-making body of the state, in the same year. Xu's mission in facilitating "political affairs" in the military meant that, in practice, he was in charge of the promotion and performance evaluation of army officers.

Central Military Commission

In 1999, Xu was promoted to the rank of General (Shang Jiang), the highest non-wartime rank in the PLA, and also joined the Central Military Commission, in addition to taking charge of the General Political Department (GPD) as its executive deputy director. In December 2000 he was named the head of the Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Central Military Commission, the military's anti-graft and disciplinary enforcement body. Xu's ascendancy in the military also resulted in his rise in the Communist Party's political hierarchy. In November 2002, he assumed full leadership over the GPD. At the party's 16th National Congress, Xu became a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China, a body in charge of the implementation of party policy.

Xu's rapid promotions at around the turn of the century was attributed to the support given to him by then-President and Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin. Observers believe that through Xu, Jiang continued to influence affairs in the military despite his official retirement in 2004; some retired officers simply described Xu and his partner of equal rank Guo Boxiong as "Jiang's proxy in the military."

During his term as Central Military Commission Vice-Chairman, beginning in 2004, Xu wielded significant authority over personnel decisions in the upper echelons of the military. Xu was seen by some observers as the day-to-day executive authority in the upper military ranks because CPC General Secretary and Central Military Chairman Hu Jintao, nominally Xu's superior, took a relatively hands-off approach to military affairs. In 2007, he was named to the 25-member Politburo, being elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 17th Central Committee.

Bribery accusations

According to subsequent accusations, the practice of exchanging "cash for ranks" was widespread during Xu's term as Vice-Chairman; the practice was ostensibly common from the highest-ranking officers to the rank-and-file petty officers. Xu retired from the Central Military Commission in 2013.

It was reported in March 2014 that Xu, then aged 70, had been diagnosed with bladder cancer and was undergoing extensive treatment at the 301 Military Hospitalin Beijing. A corruption probe was opened at around the same time. There was speculation among some in the military that Xu would be 'spared' charges due to his ill-health. Gu Junshan, one of Xu's allegedly favorite officers, who was promoted during Xu's years in office, had already been under investigation for a wide-reaching corruption scandal involving the military's real estate assets.

Xu's supporters, pleading for clemency, said that having terminal cancer was akin to having already received the "death penalty," citing the precedent of former Vice-Premier Huang Ju as a case where corruption charges should not be pressed against an official in ill-health. The decision to investigate Xu was reportedly made on 15 March 2014, when Xu was taken from his hospital bed by armed policemen. His wife, daughter and former secretary were also reportedly taken into custody.

At a Chinese New Year gala for retired military officials in 2014, Xu reportedly tried to speak to President Xi Jinping, who is also the Central Military Commission Chairman, several times, without success.

Downfall

Xu was expelled from the Communist Party of China on 30 June 2014. State media described Xu's crimes as abuse of power, accepting bribes directly or via family members in exchange for promotions, and advancing the interests of those close to him through the powers vested in his office.

Xu's downfall was unexpected because corruption investigations involving mid-tier military officers are rarely publicly announced in the People's Republic of China as to not compromise national security. Such an announcement involving a high-ranking general was entirely unprecedented.

Some analysts believe that Xu's downfall signaled a consolidation of military power directly under the hands of Xi Jinping and is of greater political significance than the corruption investigation surrounding Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee. His downfall is presented by the Communist Party as part of a wider campaign by Xi Jinping to "eradicate corruption" and "reform the military". In October 2014, Xu confessed to taking bribes, becoming the highest-profile figure in China's military to be caught up in Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign.

Death

Xu died from bladder cancer and multiple organ failure in March 2015 at the age of 71, likely during the annual "two sessions" (Lianghui) meeting of China's legislature and legislative advisory body. There is some speculation that his death was not announced until the conclusion of Lianghui on March 15 to avoid distracting from the proceedings of the nation's pre-eminent annual political gathering. As a result of his death, military prosecutors announced that, "in accordance with legal procedures," they will not continue to pursue charges against him, despite having already filed suit in military court, but will continue work in investigating his "ill-gotten gains".