tiger

After the Politburo of the Communist Party of China held a meeting to deploy anti-corruption work, three “tigers” were beaten in succession in the past four days. The number of cadres dismissed from the central government this year has increased to 45, the most since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the State Supervisory Commission reported on Monday (December 11) that Li Pengxin, the former deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.

Li Pengxin’s dismissal brings the number of cadres under investigation announced this year to 45, surpassing the 38 in 2014 and the highest record since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2012.

Central management cadres refer to cadres managed and appointed and dismissed by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and are mostly senior officials at or above the deputy ministerial level. “Lianhe Zaobao” combed through and found that the number of central management cadres investigated and punished in the past 10 years has declined first and then increased: from 38 in 2014 to 18 in 2020, it has continued to increase in the following three years, reaching a new high this year .

Among the 45 dismissed cadres, as many as 27 were local officials from 19 provinces and municipalities including Hebei, Shandong, Chongqing and Guizhou. Among them, Heilongjiang has the largest number of people. Three “tigers” have been arrested in succession within six months, including Qu Min and Li Haitao, two deputy directors of the Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference who were investigated in June and September, and Wang Yixin, member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Governor, who was notified last week. .

Among the remaining officials of central state-owned enterprises who have been dismissed, the largest number are from the financial field. A total of eight people have been investigated this year, including Liu Liange, the former party secretary and chairman of the Bank of China, Li Xiaopeng, the former chairman and party secretary of China Everbright Group, and Zhang Hongli, the former vice president of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China who was just dismissed last month, and others.

The Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China held a meeting last Friday (December 8) to study and deploy the construction of party style and clean government and anti-corruption work in 2024. The meeting agreed to convene the third plenary session of the 20th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on January 8 next year, which will last three days.

The Politburo meeting chaired by Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, emphasized that we must continue to make efforts and deepen the anti-corruption struggle, carry out special rectification of relatively prominent industry, systemic, and regional corruption problems, and seriously investigate and deal with “flies” around the masses. Greedy and corrupt.”

On the day of the meeting, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced the news of Wang Yixin’s dismissal. The next day, Chen Yuxiang, deputy secretary of the Hebei Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and deputy director of the Provincial Supervision Commission, was notified of disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.

Li Pengxin, the latest to be dismissed, is 63 years old and has served in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. In his early years, he served as secretary of the Qinghai Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League. In 2007, he served as member of the Standing Committee of the Qinghai Provincial Committee and secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee. In October 2011, Li Pengxin was transferred to the Standing Committee of the Inner Mongolia Party Committee and Minister of the Organization Department; five years later, he once again served across provinces and served as deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Later, he also served as Secretary-General of the Party Committee and Secretary of the Education Work Committee of the Autonomous Region.

Li Pengxin will step down as deputy secretary of the Party Committee of the Autonomous Region in July 2021. The personnel appointment and removal announcement issued by the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in January last year showed that he had been transferred out of Xinjiang at that time.

Nearly two-thirds of the central management cadres investigated this year were, like Li Pengxin, under investigation after retirement or resignation.

Analysts pointed out that this year is the first year after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, and the official government has maintained a high-pressure anti-corruption posture to demonstrate its determination to adhere to comprehensive and strict governance of the party. On the other hand, after many years of anti-corruption, the number of cadres dismissed from the central government has not decreased but has increased, and a large number of them have been investigated, indicating that the task of eliminating the stock of corruption is still arduous. The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s intensive “tiger crackdown” after the Politburo meeting is not only a response to high-level demands, but also to build momentum for the three plenary sessions to be held next month.