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19 deputies of China’s legislature, including 9 military officers, removed before annual meeting

BEIJING (AP) — China’s legislature has dismissed 19 members, including nine who are military officers, one week ahead of the start of its annual meeting.

The late Thursday announcement did not say why the deputies had been removed, but such removals are generally tied to corruption investigations.

An anti-corruption campaign launched by Chinese leader Xi Jinping shows no sign of letting up after more than a decade. The military has been targeted in recent years, including the removal of its top general last month, as Xi seeks to reform and modernize the armed forces.

Analysts say the campaign is also a way for Xi, who is in his 14th year in power, to remove potential rivals and ensure loyalty among his subordinates.

The dismissals aren’t likely to have a major impact on the meeting of the National People’s Congress, which opens next Thursday and is expected to run for a week. The largely ceremonial legislature rubber stamps decisions that have been made by the ruling Communist Party.

The removed officers include two under the Central Military Commission, the military’s highest body, as well as others from the army, the navy, the air force and the rocket force. Three are generals. The rocket force, which overseas China’s nuclear arsenal, was an early target of the military purges.

The other dismissed deputies were regional representatives from several provinces. The removals leave the National People’s Congress with 2,878 members.

The dismissals were announced by the legislature’s Standing Committee, a smaller and more powerful group of members who meet periodically throughout the year and can approve legislation.

The Standing Committee, which met ahead of next week’s congress, also fired two officials, the president of the military court and Emergency Management Minister Wang Xiangxi. Authorities announced last month that Wang is the subject of a corruption investigation.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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