Li Shangfu

Li Shangfu (Chinese: 李尚福; pinyin: Lǐ Shàngfú; born February 1958) is a Chinese aerospace engineer and former military administrator. He served as the 13th Minister of National Defense and as State Councillor of China from March to October 2023. Li joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) as a technician at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in 1982. He spent 31 years working at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, including 10 years as the center director. Li Shangfu served as deputy director of the PLA General Armaments Department from 2014 to 2016 and director of the Equipment Development Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC) from 2017 to 2022. He was conferred the rank of General in July 2019 and was appointed as a member of the CMC in October 2022. He was appointed as the 13th Minister of National Defense and as State Councillor in March 2023. In August 2023, Li disappeared from public view and was then removed from office on October 24, 2023. He is both the shortest-serving Minister of National Defense and the first from the PLA Strategic Support Force. In June 2024, he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) following corruption charges and his case transferred to the military's judiciary for criminal prosecution, and his rank of General revoked. In May 2026, Li was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve, which will be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole upon the expiration of the two-year reprieve period.