China's Foreign Ministry removed Zhang Kunsheng, the assistant foreign minister, from his post and is investigating him for violating discipline.

The move is part of President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive which has in the past few months netted "tigers" such as top military officials, some of whom committed suicide out of shame.

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Zhang is the highest-ranking diplomat snared by the president's drive to stamp out corruption in the Asian giant and the first to be booted out in 2015, reports BBC.

The ministry has four assistant ministers, and Zhang is ranked first. The diplomat from Shanxi Province was last seen in public on December 8 delivering a speech at a regional gathering on maritime security in Beijing.

He headed the protocol department, which involves seating arrangements and other details in diplomatic ceremonies. Ministry spokesman Qin Gang will take over Zhang's functions. Zhang also supervised the Latin American and Caribbean affairs of the ministry.

Since the term violating discipline is a politically correct term for corruption, Chinese media are speculating that Zhang's removal is linked to the downfall of Ling Jihua, an ex-senior presidential aide who was fired in late December.

In 2014, the Chinese ambassador to Iceland was arrested allegedly for selling state secrets to Japan.

Besides Zhang, another official from Guizhou Province's Public Security Bureau is under investigation also for corruption. The province had more than 44,000 corruption cases.

The president's anti-corruption drive was framed by top officials and became Xi's signature program and likely legacy two years into his leadership. It is seen as a matter of life and death for the Communist Party and was put in place to quell the growing public discontent over pervasive graft across all levels of government.

TagsAnti-corruption, Foreign Ministry