One of the most senior Chinese military officers to be accused of corruption has died of cancer, the state news agency Xinhua said on Monday, sparing the government what could have been an embarrassing trial.
Xu Caihou retired as vice chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission in 2013 and from the ruling Communist Party's decision-making Politburo in 2012.
In a brief statement, Xinhua said that Xu had died in hospital on Sunday of multiple organ failure bought on by bladder cancer.
His illness had been reported by the government.
The Defence Ministry carried the same report on its website.
The official PLA Daily, in a commentary on its microblog, said Xu ended his "pathetic and shameful life" on a sickbed under supervision.
"Corruption in the military is the most dangerous kind, for if the military tolerates corruption it tolerates defeat in battle," it said.
"After Xu Caihou's illness worsened, experts were organised in a timely manner to carry out treatment, to give a full medical guarantee," it said in a statement late on Monday.
The government said in October Xu had confessed to taking "massive" bribes in exchange for help in promotions.
His death means the Communist Party will not have to risk any embarrassment that could have come from a trial and the details of graft it might have revealed, though the trial likely would have been held behind closed doors.
Guo Boxiong, 72, was another vice chairman of the Central Military Commission until he stepped down in 2012. The government has not confirmed the investigation.
China intensified a crackdown on corruption in the military in the 1990s, banning it from business. But the military has been involved in commerce in recent years due to a lack of checks and balances, analysts say.
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