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.

BEIJING — China has put a high-ranking military official under investigation, its Defense Ministry announced Thursday. The official, Miao Li, is director of the Political Work Department, on the powerful Central Military Commission that overseas the People’s Liberation Army.

China has abruptly suspended Miao Hua from the nation’s apex military body led by President Xi Jinping, ramping up a graft probe that’s roiling the upper echelons of the People’s Liberation Army.