He Weidong

In this Chinese name, the family name is He.

He Weidong (Chinese: 何卫东; born May 1957) is a general (shangjiang) of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who served as the second-ranked vice chairman of the Central Military Commission from March 2023 to March 2025, and member of the 20th Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party from March 2023.

He Weidong
何卫东
Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission
In office State Commission: 11 March 2023 – March 2025 Party Commission: 23 October 2022 – March 2025 Serving with Zhang Youxia
Chairman	Xi Jinping
Preceded by	Xu Qiliang
Commander of the Eastern Theater Command
In office December 2019 – January 2022
Preceded by	Liu Yuejun
Succeeded by	Lin Xiangyang
Commander of the Western Theater Command Ground Force
In office February 2016 – December 2019
Preceded by	New title
Succeeded by	Xu Qiling
Commander of the Shanghai Garrison Command
In office March 2014 – February 2016
Preceded by	Peng Shuigen
Succeeded by	Zhang Xiaoming
Commander of the Jiangsu Military District
In office July 2013 – March 2014
Preceded by	Sun Xinliang
Succeeded by	Li Kerang
Personal details
Born	May 1957 (age 67) Nanping, Fujian, China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	PLA Nanjing Army Command College National University of Defense Technology
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China
Branch/service	People's Liberation Army Ground Force
Years of service	1972–present
Rank	General
Commands	Eastern Theater Command
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	何衛東
Simplified Chinese	何卫东
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hé Wèidōng

He served as commander of the Eastern Theater Command from 2019 to 2022. He was promoted to the rank of major general (shaojiang) in July 2008, lieutenant general (zhongjiang) in July 2017 and general (shangjiang) in December 2019.

Education

He was born in Nanping, Fujian, with ancestry was in the town of Xuhe, in Dongtai, Jiangsu in May 1957. In 1981 he graduated from PLA Nanjing Army Command College. In 2001 he entered the National University of Defense Technology.^[1]

Military career

He enlisted in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) in December 1972 after middle school. He was Commander of Jiangsu Military District in July 2013 and Shanghai Garrison Command in March 2014. In February 2015 he succeeded Zhu Shengling as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.^[2] In July 2016 he was transferred to Deputy Commander of the Western Theater Command and Commander of the Western Theater Command Ground Force.^[3] On February 24, 2018, he was elected as a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress.^[4] In September 2019, he was promoted to become Commander of the Eastern Theater Command, replacing Liu Yuejun.^[5][6]

Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission

In October 2022, Zhang was named as a member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and the second-ranking vice chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission. He also became the vice chairman of the state CMC in March 2023.^[7][8]

In January 2024, at the annual meeting of the disciplinary inspectors of the PLA, He said the military should "adhere to a strict tone, use stricter standards to scrutinize the key few, and show determination to get to the bottom of long-standing [corruption] problems". He also called on the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection to maintain loyalty and support to CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping.^[9] In March, during a discussion with a PLA delegation, He called on crackdowns on "fake combat capabilities".^[10]

In April 2025, the Financial Times reported that He was under anti-corruption investigations and was removed from his post as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission.^[11]