A top Chinese naval officer is reported to have committed suicide by leaping from a building here, the latest case after another senior officer jumped to death less than three months ago.
Deputy Commissar of the Chinese Navy, Vice Admiral Ma Faxiang, committed suicide after jumping from a building at a naval complex in Beijing on Thursday, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported today.
Earlier, Rear Admiral Jiang Zhonghua of the navy's South Sea Fleet armaments department, plunged to death from a hotel building in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province on September 2.
"Both Ma and Jiang's deaths are true. Those in the naval circle all know about it. But none of them can discuss anything about the reasons behind those deaths. You know what I mean?", a former naval official was quoted as saying.
The ranks of vice admiral and rear admiral are the second- and third-highest in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy and correspond with the same ranks in the US and British navies. Political commissars are in charge of ideological matters and education in the branches of the PLA.
The news of Ma's death had spread across the navy's complex in Gongzhufen, on Beijing's west side. It was yet another "big scandal" for the navy following the downfall of former deputy commander Wang Shouye, who was given a suspended death sentence in April 2007 for embezzling USD 26 million of public funds, the report quoted another source as saying.
Chinese military is rocked by a series of corruption scandals.
Ma made his last public appearance on October 22 when he greeted the 17th escort taskforce of the PLA Navy on its return from the Gulf of Aden to Zhoushan, its home port.
"However, compared with the biggest tiger Xu Caihou, the cases of Ma, Jiang and even Wang are nothing," the retired naval official said.
Xu, 71, a former vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission, is the top most military figure implicated in President Xi Jinping's anti-graft drive launched after he took control of the Communist Party and military in 2012.
