News: Former Guangdong CCPSC member and United Front Work Department Chairman Zeng Zhiquan (曾志权) stood trial for corruption and bribery today. Zeng was charged for illegally accepting money and goods worth over CNY 140 million during his term in Guangdong between 2004 and 2017.
Quick Take: Zeng had previously been working in Guangdong Department of Finance for 34 years since 1986, and worked all the way up to departmental-level ranking when becoming its director in 2010. He was further promoted to provincial CCPSC in May 2017, and became United Front Work Department Chairman in April 2018. Known as a province filled with factional gangs, Guangdong has been deeply troubled with massive corruption network directed by local officials and past principal leaders. In fact, originally from Wuhua, Zeng is identified as a Hakka (客家) official. Some previously ousted tigers including Wan Qingliang (万庆良) and Liu Zhigeng (刘志庚), who both shared several years of office with Zeng in the provincial government, were also Hakka officials. Now that Xi’s been pledged to clean up all local mafia in the province with anti-graft investigations, Zeng’s ouster indeed implies a diminishing influence of Hakka as well as factional networks in Guangdong.
New Shanxi vice governor appointed…
News: Shanxi CCPSC member and Party Secretary-General Hu Yuting (胡玉亭) is appointed Shanxi Vice Governor today.
Quick Take: Hu’s appointment today fills up the vacancy left by Lin Wu (林武), who got promoted to Shanxi Vice Party Secretary in December 2018. Ever since its notorious coal-mining collapsing corruption in 2013 that has taken down more than 330 officials, Shanxi has been undergoing an overwhelming wave of anti-graft investigations and a turbulent series of government restructuring. In fact, this is the third personnel adjustment in its CCPSC this year, and Hu is now one of the only three Shanxi local officials among the current 12 CCPSC members. Moreover, apart from political alert, the province’s free-falling economy in the recent decade also puts it under massive pressure to improve the economy. The province’s performance will be key to watch this year.
Sichuan vice governor ousted…
News: Sichuan Vice Governor Peng Yuxing (彭宇行) is currently under investigation today for serious violation of party discipline and law.
Quick Take: Peng is an academic-turned official—notably, he received his PhD and post-doc degree in France specializing in polymers and materials, and then worked for Chinese Academy of Sciences from 1993 to 2009. Peng entered active politics in 2015 as Party Secretary of Mianyang, a city known as a technology and defense industry hub. He was further promoted to Sichuan Vice Governor in September 2017, mainly in charge of defense-related industrial and technological development and civilian-military integration. Peng’s ouster appears quite unexpected, as defense technocrats are now highly valued by CCP and likely to obtain good political fortune.
Newly appointed Hubei CCPSC member destination confirmed…
News: Luo Yonggang (罗永纲), former Inner Mongolia Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chairman and Secretary-General who was appointed Hubei CCPSC last Friday, has been confirmed to take the post of Hubei Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chairman.
Quick Take: As analyzed in our last Friday’s edition, Luo now fills up the vacancy left by Wang Xiangxi (王祥喜) who was transferred to a Chairman post in SOE earlier in March. He has previously served six months of Political and Legal Affairs Commission Chairman in Inner Mongolia from October 2018 until April 2019. Moreover, Luo’s appointment also completes the province’s CCPSC, in which five out of 13 were appointed from outside of the province.