Admiral Dong Jun
董军
Dong in 2024
14thMinister of National Defense
Incumbent
Assumed office 29 December 2023
Premier	Li Qiang
CMC Chairman	Xi Jinping
Preceded by	Li Shangfu
9thCommander of the People's Liberation Army Navy
In office September 2021 – December 2023
Preceded by	Shen Jinlong
Succeeded by	Hu Zhongming
Personal details
Born	1961 (age 64–65) Yantai,Shandong, China[1]
Party	Chinese Communist Party
Alma mater	Dalian Naval Academy
Military service
Allegiance	People's Republic of China
Branch	People's Liberation Army Navy
Service years	1979–present
Rank	Admiral
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	董军
Traditional Chinese	董軍
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dǒng Jūn

Dong Jun (Chinese:董军;pinyin:Dǒng Jūn; born in 1961) is a Chineseadmiral of thePeople's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). He was theCommander of the People's Liberation Army Navy from September 2021 to December 2023. On 29 December 2023, he was appointed as the 14thMinister of National Defense; he succeededLi Shangfu who was removed from office in October 2023. Dong is the first defense minister from the PLAN.

In 1978, Dong was admitted to theDalian Naval Academy, and entered PLAN service in 1979 after graduation. He has been director of the PLAN Command Military Training Department, the deputy chief of staff of theNorth Sea Fleet, and commander of the 92269 unit.^[2]

Dong became deputy commander of theEast Sea Fleet in 2013, the PLAN deputy chief of staff in December 2014, and then deputy commander ofSouthern Theater Command in January 2017.^[3] In March 2021, he became deputy commander of the PLAN, and then its commander in August 2021.^[4][5] He was named as the commander of the PLA Navy in September 2021.^[6]

He was promoted to the rank ofrear admiral (shaojiang) in July 2012,vice admiral (zhongjiang) in July 2018 andadmiral (shangjiang) in September 2021. He has been associated withNational University of Defense Technology as an adjunct professor since 2013.^[7][8]

On 29 December 2023, theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress appointed Dong as theMinister of National Defense. He was the first defense minister with a naval background; one observer called it the "biggest surprise of 2023" for the PLA.^[9] According to political scientist Wen-Ti Sung, the selection of Dong as the defense minister was possibly a sign of ongoing purges within thePLA Rocket Force and theCentral Military Commission (CMC)'sEquipment Development Department.^[10][11] Unlike his predecessors, Dong is currently not a member of the CMC, and thus, he does not have the decision-making authority within the PLA.^[12]

On 31 January 2024, Dong met with Russian Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu viateleconference, his first international engagement. During the meeting, Dong stated the militaries of Russia and China should be bolstering mutual trust and expanding cooperation to "elevate the relations between the two militaries to a higher level."^[13] According to the transcript of the meeting released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Dong stated that China would continue to support Russia on the 'Ukraine issue', and despite pressure from the United States and theEuropean Union, "China will not abandon its established policies and the outside world will not interfere with normal cooperation between China and Russia." When asked about Dong's statements at a press briefing,Foreign Ministry of China spokespersonWang Wenbin stated that China's position remains unchanged and does not provide military aid to either side of the conflict.^[14][15] On 11 April, he met with his Vietnamese counterpartPhan Văn Giang atLào Cai province near theChina-Vietnam border and the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding to establish an emergency hotline between the Chinese and Vietnamese militaries.^[16] On 27 April, he took part in theShanghai Cooperation Organisation defense ministers' meeting inAlmaty, Kazakhstan where he met with defense ministers of Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, and held separate talks with defense ministers of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.^[17] Prior to the defense ministers meeting, on April 26, he met with high-ranking Kazakhstani politicians includingPresident of KazakhstanKassym-Jomart Tokayev.^[18]

On 31 May 2024, Dong attended the 2024Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore where he met withUnited States Secretary of DefenseLloyd Austin. During the meeting, which was Austin's first with a Chinese counterpart, the two agreed to resume military-to-military communication between the two countries while also at the same time, Austin raised the issues of Chinese military exercises nearTaiwan and China's support for Russia's military industry during theRussian invasion of Ukraine. On 2 June, at a speech at the forum, Dong stated that China stays committed to "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan but "this prospect is increasingly being eroded by separatists forTaiwan independence and foreign forces." He also stated that China "will take resolute actions to curb Taiwan independence and make sure such a plot never succeeds." He also warned againstU.S. arms sale to Taiwan stating that "this kind of behavior sends very wrong signals to the Taiwan independence forces and makes them become very aggressive." Regarding the ongoing confrontations betweenChinese Coast Guard and Philippine fishing boats near thedisputed reefs in the South China Sea, Dong stated "China has maintained sufficient restraint in the face of rights infringements and provocation" but warned that there are "limits to this."^[19][20]

On 14 October 2024, Dong met with Russian Defense MinisterAndrey Belousov in Beijing. They called on both sides to "deepen strategic collaboration" and "continuously advance military relations."^[21]

On 20 November 2024, Dong held high-level talks with his Indian counterpartRajnath Singh on the sidelines of 11thASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus atVientiane, Laos. The meeting between the two defence ministers came after the Indian and Chinese militaries completed disengagement of troops at friction points at theLine of Actual Control between the two countries. During the meeting, Singh called for reflecting on the "lessons learnt from the2020 border clashes, take measures to prevent recurrence of such events and safeguard peace and tranquillity along theIndia-China border."^[22]

In late November 2024, former and current U.S. officials who spoke to theFinancial Times stated that Dong was under investigation due to suspicion of corruption.^[23] In an enquiry about Dong at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China press conference on 27 November, Foreign Ministry spokespersonMao Ning called the reports regarding investigation on Dong as "groundless" and "shadow chasing", while spokesperson of the Ministry of National DefenceWu Qian called the reports as "pure fabrications" at a press briefing and further stated that "the rumour-mongers are ill-intentioned" and "China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with such slanderous behaviour."^[24][25] In April 2025, theFinancial Times reported that Dong had undergone an initial investigation but appeared to have his case be cleared.^[26]

• Living people
• Commanders of the People's Liberation Army Navy
• 1963 births
• People from Yantai
• People's Liberation Army generals from Shandong
• Ministers of national defense (China)
• Dalian Naval Academy alumni
• Delegates to the 14th National People's Congress
• Delegates to the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
• Members of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party

• Articles containing Chinese-language text
• CS1 uses Chinese-language script (zh)
• CS1 Chinese-language sources (zh)
• CS1 Ukrainian-language sources (uk)
• CS1 Vietnamese-language sources (vi)
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Articles containing simplified Chinese-language text