The suspended officer, Admiral Miao Hua, served on the ruling Central Military Commission, China's highest-level military command body, and was stationed in the coastal province of Fujian when President Xi Jinping worked there as a local official, according to his official biography.

Miao is director of the Central Military Commission’s political work department, which oversees party ideology and personnel changes.

The suspension of Miao Hua, one of China's highest-ranking military officials, marks an escalation in leader Xi Jinping's campaign to tackle corruption.

The confirmation of an investigation into Miao Hua and his suspension marks the latest chapter in a growing corruption scandal engulfing China's military elites.

China has suspended a top military official and placed him under investigation for corruption, the defense ministry said, as leader Xi Jinping broadens a sweeping purge in the upper ranks of the world’s largest military.

A top Chinese military official has been removed from office and is suspected of "serious violations of discipline", Beijing said Thursday, the latest senior apparatchik to fall in a sweeping crackdown on graft in the country's armed forces.

Adm. Miao Hua is one of six members of the highest-ranking body of military command, which Xi Jinping personally leads.

Miao Hua, a top Chinese military official, has been removed from office and is suspected of "serious violations of discipline", Beijing said.

China's Defense Ministry says a a high-ranking military official has been suspended while he is under investigation

China has abruptly suspended Miao Hua from the nation’s apex military body led by President Xi Jinping, ramping up a graft probe that’s roiling the upper echelons of the People’s Liberation Army.