SinoInsight 1
Sept. 21
1. The Langfang Intermediate People’s Court in Hebei Province announced that Liu Xinyun (age 60), the former vice governor and public security bureau (PSB) director of Shanxi Province, was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined 1 million yuan for accepting bribes (equivalent to over 13.33 million yuan) and abusing power.
2. The Intermediate People’s Court of Baoding City in Hebei Province sentenced Deng Huilin (57), the former vice mayor and PSB director of Chongqing municipality, to 15 years in prison and fined him 4 million yuan for accepting 42.67 million yuan in bribes.
3. The Intermediate People’s Court of Tangshan City in Hebei Province sentenced Gong Daoan (58), the former vice mayor and PSB director of Shanghai municipality, to life imprisonment and deprived of his political rights for life for accepting over 73.43 million yuan in bribes. All of Gong’s personal property was also confiscated.
Sept. 22
1.The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun City in Jilin Province sentenced Fu Zhenghua (67), the former public security vice minister, justice minister, and deputy director of the social and legal affairs committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, to a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years with no possibility of parole or further commutation. Fu was also deprived of his political rights for life. In July, Fu confessed to accepting over 117 million yuan in bribes.
The court’s verdict said that Fu’s crime was “particularly serious” and that he had provided clues to other major cases that were verified to be true. Fu’s “significant meritorious service” earned him a suspended death sentence.
2. The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun City in Jilin Province sentenced Wang Like (pronounced “lee kuh”), the former Standing Committee member of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Political and Legal Affairs Commission, to a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years with no possibility of parole or further commutation. Wang is charged with accepting bribes of more than 440 million yuan, offering bribes of over 97.31 million yuan, sheltering and conniving with mafia-like organizations, and forging identity documents.
The court’s verdict stated that Wang had “severely undermined judicial credibility, committed crimes whose circumstances were particularly serious, caused particularly vile social impact, caused particularly significant damage to the interests of the country and the people, and should be sentenced to death for the crimes.” However, “in view of the fact that Wang Like surrendered on his own initiative, took the initiative to account for some of the criminal facts not yet grasped by the organ in charge of the case, and actively surrendered most of his illegal proceeds,” the court handed him a suspended death sentence instead owing to those “mitigating circumstances.”
Sept. 23
The Intermediate People’s Court of Changchun City sentenced Sun Lijun, a former Party Committee member and vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, to a suspended death sentence that will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years with no possibility of parole or further commutation. Sun is charged with accepting bribes worth more than 646 million yuan, stock market manipulation, and illegally possession of firearms.
The court’s verdict said that the circumstances around Sun’s crimes were “particularly serious, the social impact particularly bad, and caused particularly heavy losses to the country and the people,” and that he “should be sentenced to death for the crimes.” Sun, however, had provided clues to other major cases that were verified to be true after his arrest, therefore performing “significant meritorious service.” He also took the initiative to account for some of the criminal facts that the organ in charge of the case did not know, “truthfully confessed to all the facts of the crime,” and “pleaded guilty and repented.” Hence, Sun was given a suspended death sentence.
OUR TAKE
1. We noted in our Jan. 20, 2022 newsletter that the CCP’s “self-revolution” propaganda at the time hinted at Xi Jinping’s “killing intent” towards his factional rivals. We added that the Xi leadership could be “planning to order executions as a way to further intimidate his factional foes and deter interference with his third term bid,” and “two likely sacrificial candidates are Sun Lijun and Fu Zhenghua.”
In our July 14 newsletter, we further analyzed that should Xi intend “to make an example of Sun and Fu to ‘kill the chickens to scare the monkeys’ (殺鷄儆猴) in the political and legal affairs apparatus and underscore his determination to ‘turn the knife inward’ in carrying out ‘self-revolution,’ then it cannot be ruled out that both men could be sentenced to death (though likely commuted to life imprisonment).”
Fu Zhenghua and Sun Lijun were handed suspended death sentences likely because they handed over valuable information to the Xi leadership that gives Xi Jinping political leverage over the Jiang Zemin faction and other political opponents. That three of the six aforementioned senior public security officials were given commuted death sentences (life imprisonment without parole or further commutation) shows that Xi is determined to rectify the political and legal affairs apparatus to rid it of serious corruption from the Jiang faction’s era of dominance and curb its ability to pose a threat to the Xi leadership. The sentencing of Sun and Fu also partly corroborates our observations about “you die, I live” factional struggle in the Party elite and Xi’s political risks.
2. The six senior public security officials listed above are all members of the so-called “Sun Lijun political gang.” Thus far, the anti-corruption authorities have named seven people as being part of the group, including Sun himself, Gong Daoan, Deng Huilin, Wang Like, Liu Xinyun, Fu Zhenghua, and Liu Yanping. It is likely that all members of the “political gang” will be prosecuted or sentenced before the 20th Party Congress as the Xi leadership moves to “kill the chickens to scare the monkey.”
It is noteworthy that three of the six senior public security officials (deputy ministerial level) were tried and sentenced in Hebei Province. We previously noted in analyzing the Tangshan restaurant incident that the Xi leadership has long had trouble with “rectifying” the Hebei political and legal affairs apparatus, which was dominated by the Jiang faction for many years. The sentencing of those senior public security officials in Hebei is likely meant to serve as a warning to political and legal affairs officials in the province.
3. The “Sun Lijun political gang” would be what the CCP would refer to as an “anti-Party group” (反黨集團) during the earlier decades of the PRC. Those accused of being part of an “anti-Party group” are usually guilty of committing serious political problems and their associates are likely to be implicated.
In analyzing the “double expulsion” of Liu Yanping, we noted that contradictions in the official statement about his expulsion indicate that Liu had sought out political backers that were more senior than Sun Lijun, such as Jiang faction members Meng Jianzhu and Guo Shengkun. Put another way, the Xi leadership is likely using Sun’s name as a placeholder and could rename the “political gang” to that of a more senior official if one is formally investigated. Ultimately, how far up the food chain Xi will go depends on whether his factional rivals make compromises and do not attempt to undermine his third term bid and other 20th Party Congress agendas.
SinoInsight 2
The latest issue of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission’s journal (中國紀檢監察雜誌) contained a 5,200-character article titled, “Anti-corruption is the Most Thorough Self-revolution” (反腐敗是最徹底的自我革命). The article largely rehashes the Xi leadership’s propaganda narratives about anti-corruption, spotlights Xi Jinping’s achievements in anti-corruption during his decade in office, and stresses the importance of the “self-revolution” campaign for the CCP regime’s survival, development, and ensuring that “the red regime never changes color” (紅色江山永不變色).
The article opens by praising Xi’s 10 years in power as being like “an epic poem,” both “majestic and soul-stirring.” In particular, “the fight against corruption was an especially thrilling chapter.” The article went on to declare that “the strength and scale of anti-corruption efforts in the new era are rarely seen in the world and in history.”
The article later highlighted some of Xi Jinping’s quotes on anti-corruption, including:
- “The hearts and minds of the people are politically paramount (民心是最大的政治), and the people hate corruption the most. Either offend hundreds of corrupt elements, or you offend 1.4 billion people.”
- “No one has exonerating ‘red book and iron coupons’ [丹書鐵券, an idiom akin to ‘get-out-of-jail-free’ card] and no one is an ‘iron-cap prince’ [鐵帽子王, or someone who is above the law]. Regardless of what region or field [the officials are from], regardless of whether they are active or retired, those that should be punished will be punished, and those that should be purged will be purged.”
- The national discipline inspection and supervisory organs filed a total of 4.388 million cases and investigated 4.709 million people between the 18th Party Congress and the end of April 2022.
- The national discipline inspection and supervisory organs seriously investigated and handled major cases such as those involving Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Sun Zhengcai, and Ling Jihua. The authorities also “effectively eliminated major hidden political dangers within the Party.”
- The national discipline inspection and supervisory organs disposed of 739,000 problematic leads, filed 322,000 cases, and punished 273,000 people in the first half of 2022 alone. Of those punished, 21 were provincial and ministerial-level cadres, 1,237 were bureau and department-level cadres, and 10,000 were county-level cadres.
OUR TAKE
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Supervisory Commission journal’s article above advances several political agenda items for the Xi leadership.
First, the article perpetuates the Xi leadership’s anti-corruption and “self-revolution” propaganda campaign that emerged after the Sixth Plenum of the 19th Central Committee (see here and here for examples). The propaganda campaign in turn is part of Xi’s effort to boost his “quan wei” (authority and prestige) by highlighting his anti-corruption achievements, promoting the importance of Xi’s “self-revolution” to the survival and success of the regime, and rationalizing the purge of senior officials in the political and legal affairs apparatus.
Second, the article was published before the sentencing of several senior public security officials who were previously marked as members of the “Sun Lijun political gang” (see SinoInsight 1). The sentencing of those officials and release of the article at this time are meant to work hand in hand to intimidate officials in the political and legal affairs apparatus and suggest that they think twice before attempting to undermine Xi Jinping’s “victorious opening” of the 20th Party Congress.
Third, the article seeks to caution the political patrons of the “Sun Lijun political gang” against acting against Xi and blocking his 20th Party Congress agenda items, including extending his tenure. In particular, the phrase “iron-cap prince” is an oblique reference to Jiang faction number two Zeng Qinghong. The article essentially places Zeng and others on notice; should they challenge Xi, he would go after them “regardless of whether they are active or retired” because “those that should be punished will be punished, and those that should be purged will be purged.”
