Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu has been removed from his positions as defense chief and state councilor, state-run media said Tuesday, in a move sanctioned by President Xi Jinping nearly two months after Li disappeared from public view.

The state-run Global Times newspaper said Xi had signed a presidential decree on Tuesday to remove Li from the defense minister post and the more powerful position on the State Council.

It did not give a reason for the dismissal or name a replacement, though Gen. Liu Zhenli, the head of the military body responsible for China's combat operations and planning who is close to Xi, has emerged as the top contender.

Meanwhile, a separate report by the official Xinhua News Agency said former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was removed from his position in August after a monthlong disappearance, was also stripped of his state councilor post.

Widespread speculation over the missing ministers kicked off in July, when Qin disappeared, only to be unceremoniously removed from his post without explanation the following month. A report last month said he had been sacked after fathering a child in the U.S. during a long-rumored extramarital affair while serving as ambassador to Washington, potentially compromising Chinese national security.

News of more purges further raised eyebrows in August, when two of the most senior officials in the People’s Liberation Army’s Rocket Force — which oversees the country’s land-based missile and nuclear arsenals — were ousted, part of an apparent attempt to install more loyal officials and smash corruption inside the force.

Concerns about Xi’s government surged in recent weeks amid Li’s unexplained absence. The defense chief, who was last seen in public on Aug. 29, has reportedly been placed under investigation, together with eight other senior officials, over alleged corruption during his time as head of the military’s equipment procurement unit.

Although the posts of foreign and defense ministers are largely symbolic under the Chinese system — Qin was not the country’s top diplomat and Li does not oversee combat forces — the pair were widely seen as important faces representing Beijing’s diplomatic and military policy to the outside world.

The decision to fire Li could leave China without a defense chief as it prepares to host foreign defense officials at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum from Oct. 29 to 31.

With a U.S. delegation committed to attending the forum, it's unclear how the absence will affect any attempt to improve military-to-military ties, which have China has effectively cut off since then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan.

Still, Li's firing could be a blessing in disguise for reopening defense channels. Beijing had demanded that U.S. sanctions on Li in connection with China’s purchase of Russian weapons be lifted as a condition for improving military ties.