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.

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.

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.

A member of China's powerful Central Military Commission has been suspended and put under investigation, the country's Defense Ministry said Thursday. Miao Hua was director of the political work department on the commission,