Former Chinese aerospace executive handed suspended death sentence over corruption

BEIJING: A Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced Tan Ruisong, the former chairman of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, to death with a two-year reprieve for corruption, part of a wider campaign against graft in China’s military-industrial complex.

The former aerospace defence executive was found guilty on charges of embezzlement, bribery, insider trading and leaking insider information, a court in the country’s northeastern province of Liaoning said on Wednesday.

Tan took in over 700 million yuan ($101.45 million) while holding various posts in the aerospace industry spanning three decades, the court’s first-instance judgment showed.

The statement said Tan pleaded “guilty and showed repentance.” Tan was expelled from the ruling Communist Party for corruption in February 2025. He “lived off the military sector” and took a huge amount in bribes, China’s anti-graft watchdog said at the time. Chinese President Xi Jinping has launched a years-long anti-corruption purge in the country’s military, in which the nation’s top generals, senior military officials, former defence ministers and industry elites have been ousted, probed and prosecuted.