plenumteam

News: Former Nanjing CPPCC Chairman Shen Jian (沈健) committed suicide recently. Quick Take: A Nanjing local, Shen’s entire political career since 1975 was based in his hometown. Notably, he was deputy chief of staff and chief of staff to then-Nanjing Mayor and Nanjing Party Secretary Luo Zhijun (罗志军), who later became Jiangsu Party Secretary, for 11 years. Luo was Nanjing Mayor from 2001 to 2003, and Nanjing Party Secretary from 2003 to 2007; Shen was Nanjing Government Secretary-General from 2001 to 2004, and Nanjing CCP Committee Secretary-General from 2004 to 2008, when he was appointed Nanjing Executive Vice Mayor. He was further appointed Nanjing CPPCC Chairman in January 2013, and retired five years later. Before Shen, there had been multiple disruptions in Nanjing since the 18th Party Congress— former Nanjing Mayor Ji Jianye (季建业) was ousted in October 2013, former Nanjing Party Secretary Yang Weize (杨卫泽) was brought down in January 2015, while former Jiangsu Vice Governor Miao Ruilin (缪瑞林), who also did a short stint as Nanjing Mayor, was brought down in November 2018. Shen’s career overlapped with all three.

News: Anhui Vice Governor Yang Guangrong (杨光荣) is concurrently appointed Fuyang Party Secretary today, replacing Li Ping (李平), who is now removed from the post. Quick Take: It’s rare for a vice-provincial level official to be posted concurrently as a prefecture’s Party Secretary, which only comes at full-departmental level. More importantly, Yang’s predecessor Li Ping was not given other appointment notice upon his removal from the post, indicating that he is likely undergoing some inspections. Fuyang is deeply trapped in poverty—as the most populated city in the province with approximately 8093 thousand residents, its per capital income only came at CNY 21.7 thousand in 2018, placed at the bottom of the province. Moreover, the city is also reported with notable formalism and bureaucratism issues in its poverty alleviation battle, the top two redlines of CCP’s anti-graft campaign. Under these circumstances, Yang’s appointment is very likely aimed at aiding Fuyang’s economy and accelerating its poverty alleviation process—Yang has previously worked over a decade in Changsha Finance Bureau and was widely praised for boosting Changsha’s economy during his term as Changsha County Party Secretary.

News: Former Inner Mongolia CCPSC member and Hohhot Party Secretary Yun Guangzhong (云光中) is under investigation due to serious violation of party discipline and law. Quick Take: An Inner Mongolia local, Yun has never left the region his entire career, and had previously served in multiple prefectural cities since 1984, including Wuhai, Hulunbuir, Ordos, and eventually Hohhot, the capital of the region. He was appointed Inner Mongolia Vice Chairman in January 2014, and became the region’s CCPSC member and Hohhot Party Secretary three years later. Yun had a three-year career overlap with Bai Xiangqun (白向群), the region’s recently ousted tiger in May 2018; moreover, Yun’s ex-colleague Su Jianrong (苏建荣), who he shared office with for six years during his term in Ordos, was just brought down a week ago for serious violation of party discipline and law. Notably, there have been a series of ousters since 2018 in the region, most of which are locally cultivated officials, just like the abovementioned three. Disruptions are likely to go on as CCP’s continuous effort to crack down its local gangs.

News: Former Hangzhou Mayor Xu Liyi (徐立毅) was appointed today as Henan CCPSC member and Zhengzhou Party Secretary. Quick Take: It is very clear that officials from Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu are recently favored by the top leadership for their experience in economy, industry and hi-tech—A number of high-profile transfers were made recently from China’s eastern, coastal, economically better-off provinces to inland, developing provinces, including the earlier appointment of Shanghai CCPSC member and Executive Vice Mayor Zhou Bo (周波) to Liaoning Vice Party Secretary position. Xu’s appointment from Hangzhou to Zhengzhou is the latest of such trend—these officials are usually promoted in ranking from their old posts to their new ones—for instance, Zhou’s appointment from Shanghai CCPSC to Liaoning as Vice Party Secretary seems to be on the same ranking, but Vice Party Secretary being the no.3 of the province is indeed more important than CCPSC member. Similarly, Hangzhou Mayor is a vice-provincial job but being within CCPSC is different to Xu—these are rewards for officials working in a much more challenging environment.

News: Former Beijing Cultural Investment Development Group Co. (BCID) General Manager Dai Zigeng (戴自更) is currently under investigation. Quick Take: Before joining BCID, Dai had previously worked his entire career in the local party mouthpieces. He started his career in Guang Ming Daily, a CCP-run national newspaper in 1988 to 2006. Since 2003, Dai also took the editor-in-chief position of The Beijing News, one of the first non-party-run newspapers published in multiple regions. Dai was in charge of The Beijing News until August 2017, when he became BCID’s Vice Chairman and Deputy Manager. Dai’s ouster is very likely related to Wu Xiaohui (吴小晖), former Anbang Group Chairman brought down in June 2017 due to corruption and political wrongdoings—The Beijing News under Dai’s leadership worked hard to clear Wu’s name months before Wu’s arrest. Rumor also suggests that a fund was set up by Anbang under The Beijing News, of which Dai served as a legal person.

News: Former Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Shanghai branch Chief Gu Guoming (顾国明) is under investigation today for serious violation of party discipline and law. Quick Take: Gu has worked in ICBC Shanghai branch for 17 years—he started his career at ICBC Shanghai in 2002 as its Vice President, and was promoted to the President seat in 2015. Notably, there had already been another ICBC Chief ousted earlier this year—on 11 April, former ICBC Chongqing branch chief Xie Ming (谢明), who had retired in 2017, was also taken down by CCDI for suspected violation of party discipline and law. There has been a notable anti-corruption crackdown in the banking sector this year; following the trend, more disruptions should be expected within the ICBC system.

News: Former Qinghai CCPSC member and Executive Vice Governor Wang Yubo (王予波) was appointed Yunnan Vice Party Secretary today. Quick Take: Before the appointment today, Wang has spent his entire career in Qinghai since 1984. He was appointed Qinghai CCPSC member and Secretary-General in April 2015, and was again promoted to Qinghai Executive Vice Governor in March 2017. Wang’s predecessor Li Xiuling (李秀领) has departed for another post as Inner Mongolia CPPCC Chairman in January 2019.

News: Former Fujian Vice Governor Yang Xianjin (杨贤金) was appointed Fujian CCPSC member and Organization Department Chief today. Quick Take: Yang is a technocrat with a solid background in biomedical engineering, and started his career in Tianjin University in 2001. He then worked in East China University of Science and Technology and Tongji University respectively, before officially entering active politics in 2017 as Fujian Vice Governor. Following the appointments of Chen Anli (陈安丽) and Shi Dai (石岱), this is already the third personnel adjustment in the past three days at the provincial Organization Chief position, and the 7th since the beginning of 2019. More interestingly, we noticed that many of the recently appointed provincial CCPSC members were transferred from Vice Governor seats, with a large majority appointed in January 2018. Some examples include Heilongjiang Organization Chief Chen Anli, Hunan Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chief Li Dianxun, and Yang Xianjin today.

News: Former Ministry of Science and Technology (MST) official Xia Mingjiu (夏鸣九) was appointed Minister-Counselor of the Chinese embassy in Japan today, with a vice-ministerial ranking. Quick Take: Traditionally, different Ministries under the State Council will assign officials to Chinese embassies as counselors to assist ambassadors with different areas of work, including culture, commerce, technology, education, etc. However, Xia’s appointment is quite intriguing, in that previous minister-counselors assigned from MST were only afforded a departmental ranking, while Xia’s ranking is specifically lifted upon his appointment. This may indicate a potential elevation of science and technology in China’s foreign affairs arena.

News: Former Hubei Vice Governor Chen Anli (陈安丽) was appointed Heilongjiang Organization Department Chief today. Quick Take: A Hubei local, Chen spent her entire career in her home province since 1984. Most of her work experiences are concentrated in the education industry, during her term for more than a decade in Hubei Department of Education. Chen also served in Huanggang and Suizhou respectively before being appointed Hubei Vice Governor in January 2018. Upon her appointment to Heilongjiang today, Chen will take up the vacancy left by Wang Aiwen (王爱文), who left the post on 14 May to become vice minister at the Ministry of Civil Affairs.