Recently, the cronies of Meng Jianzhu, former secretary of the Chinese Communist Party‘s Political and Legal Committee and member of the Politburo, have been purged. At the fifth plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xi Jinping emphasized “a struggle that cannot afford to lose and must not be lost,” and the official media published an article saying that some people are engaging in political corruption and “trying to steal power from the Party and the state.
Behind these incidents are further divisions within the top echelons of the Communist Party. Who is trying to steal top power and who are Xi’s political enemies?
Communist Party Officials Admit Another Attempt to “Steal Party and State Power”
On January 23, Xinhua, the official media of the Communist Party of China (CPC), made a big headline in an article entitled “Three references to the “three political forces” in one month,” saying, “Political corruption is the biggest corruption. Some corrupt elements have formed interest groups in a vain attempt to steal power from the Party and the state, engage in unorganized activities and undermine the Party’s centralization and unity.”
The article also named Deng Zuling, vice mayor of Chongqing and director of the Public Security Bureau, saying he “participated in a gang within the Party to make political capital, was keen on political speculation, and arrogated to the central government.”
On January 24, the communiqué of the fifth plenary session of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection mentioned that the punishment for corruption in the political and legal systems should be increased.
Deng Cullin, the former secretary of the CCP’s Political and Legal Committee and Politburo member Meng Jianzhu’s chief of staff at the Central Political and Legal Committee, was also known as Meng’s “big butler.” On June 14, 2020, Deng Cullin fell from power; he was double-opened on January 4 and arrested on January 22.
The two terms “political corruption” and “attempting to steal power from the party and the state” are rare together. Comparably, after the 19th National Congress, Wang Qishan, who had just left his post as secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, published an article in his book calling Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai “politically corrupt” and suggesting that interest groups should be prevented from “stealing party and state power”.
After the arrests and sentencing of Ling Plan, Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai, who or which group is being pointed to by the official’s reintroduction of the phrase “stealing power”?
Meng Jianzhu has repeatedly meddled in military affairs, picking up former armed forces commander Wang Jianping
In 2020, there were various reports in overseas media against Meng Jianzhu.
Some overseas media broke the story last April that former Vice Minister of Public Security Fu Zhenghua and Sun Lijun had taken veteran Beijing media figure Gao Yu in that year and wanted to fabricate a charge to cure her. Meng Jianzhu and Fu Zhenghua then teamed up to call Du Jincai, then secretary of the Military Discipline Inspection Commission and secretary of the Military Political and Legal Affairs Commission, asking Du to prevent Gao Yu’s brother (of the military’s literary system) from attending the parade, and Meng made several calls to make sure to clean up Gao’s brother.
Meng and Du Jincai allegedly teamed up to clean up Wang Jianping when he moved from the post of commander of the Armed Police Force to that of deputy chief of general staff of the General Staff in 2014. The Armed Police is considered a force within the CCP prone to coup involvement.
Although this story has not been officially confirmed by the CCP, Gao Yu has not been seen publicly dispelling the rumors.
Almost simultaneously with this revelation, on April 19 last year, Sun Lijun, a vice minister of the Communist Party’s Ministry of Public Security, was investigated. Sun is Meng Jianzhu’s secretary.
On August 18, 2020, Gong Daogan, vice mayor of Shanghai and director of the city’s Public Security Bureau, fell from grace. Gong Daogan is a close associate of Meng Jianzhu.
So far this year, there have been another top-level political and legal system fallen and stepped down.
On Jan. 25, Li Wenxi, former vice chairman of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and former director of the provincial Public Security Department, was investigated; on Jan. 26, Li Chunsheng, 60, vice governor of Guangdong Province and director of the Public Security Department, stepped down.
Li Chunsheng’s resume shows that in 2008, when Meng Jianzhu took control of the Ministry of Public Security, Li became the deputy director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Public Security; in November 2012, after Meng became the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, Li was “parachuted” into the post of vice governor of Guangdong and director of the provincial Public Security Department in 2013.
Xi’s words behind “a struggle that cannot afford to lose and must not lose”
On Jan. 24, Xi Jinping said at the fifth plenary session of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection that he was “determined to win the political battle against corruption, which we cannot afford to lose and must not lose.
This statement has been the subject of much debate.
According to current affairs commentator Li Linyi, Xi’s words show that the anti-corruption fight is now not only resistant, but also “can’t afford to lose and must not lose” and needs to be “resolutely won”. The person who caused such resistance to Xi is not expected to be a former Politburo member Meng Jianzhu. Judging from the authorities’ harsh statement, it must be a standing committee member, such as Zeng Qinghong, and possibly a faction of multiple standing committees.
According to information, Meng Jianzhu started out in Shanghai and is considered a member of the “Shanghai gang” and a close associate of Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong in the political and legal system. Among them, the closest relationship is between Zeng Qinghong and Meng Jianzhu.
According to reports, Meng Jianzhu was defeated by former Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Liangyu in the official competition in 2001, and was arranged by Zeng Qinghong to become the provincial party secretary in his hometown of Jiangxi. When he retired in 2007, Meng was transferred to Beijing to replace Zhou Yongkang, who had been promoted to secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, as minister of public security; at the 18th National Congress, Meng was promoted to the Politburo by Jiang’s faction and became secretary of the Political and Legal Committee.
In July last year, a Hong Kong media report quoted overseas media sources as saying that Meng Jianzhu was “seriously ill and hospitalized”, but his freedom was restricted by the authorities.
In October of the same year, however, Meng made a brief “appearance” at the Communist Party’s “November” reception.
A Weathervane for Zeng Qinghong’s Situation
On January 29, 58-year-old Lai Xiaomin, former Party Secretary and Chairman of the Board of Directors of China Huarong Asset Management Co. The authorities took only 24 days from the pronouncement of the verdict to the execution of Lai.
At the same Time, articles began to appear on the mainland internet directly referring to Lai Xiaomin’s backstage as “Prince Qing” and the “Wu Family“, which have not been removed until press time.
In mainland China, “King Qing” is an alias for Zeng Qinghong; “Wu family” refers to Wu Xiaohui’s (Deng Xiaoping) family.
The article, titled “Behind the Scenes with Lai Xiaomin,” says that both the Qing and Wu families are genuine Jiangxi cousins, and both are “deeply in love” with their homeland.
The article also publicly stated that in 2012, Huarong sold 70% of its subsidiary Zhizhuo International, two pieces of land in its Shenzhen factory and the company building on them to two buyers, the largest of which was Shenzhen Huayin, a subsidiary of the Huayin Group. The owner of this Fancy Year Group is said to be surnamed Zeng.
Publicly available information shows that Fancy Year Holdings, a Chinese property developer, was founded in 1996 by Baby Zeng (also known as Zeng Jie), who is the niece of Zeng Qinghong.
In addition, Lai Xiaomin has close ties with Xiao Jianhua and others. Zeng Qinghong is believed to be one of the backstage of Xiao Jianhua, who has enriched the Zeng Qinghong family and created the famous “Luneng incident”.
In November 2018, David Webb, an independent stock commentator in Hong Kong known as “Long Hair of the Stock Market”, published his new book “The Enigma Network 26”, revealing that Xiao Jianhua’s Tomorrow System, Lai Xiaomin’s Huarong System and Wu Xiaohui’s Minsheng System are involved in a “golden triangle The “golden triangle” of relationships has been established in the stock market and is making waves in the Hong Kong stock market.
According to reports, the Chinese Communist Party arrested Xiao Jianhua in Hong Kong late on New Year’s Eve, January 27, 2017, and took him back to the mainland for interrogation.
According to Li Linyi, Xi executed Lai Xiaomin quickly in order to deter forces behind Lai, such as Zeng Qinghong. The re-emergence of the Zeng Qinghong family scandal on the mainland internet is a wind vane. Xi is holding Xiao Jianhua’s case and Meng Jianzhu’s case, all of which will involve Zeng. It is expected that Xi will not be soft on Meng Jianzhu, and it is up to Xi to decide whether to move Meng’s backstage Zeng Qinghong.
Zeng Qinghong in coup rumors: backstage identity
In recent years, there have been many rumors of a coup within the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party, with Zeng Qinghong appearing in a backstage capacity.
After Bo Xilai’s attempt to seize power in 2012, it was revealed that Zhou Yongkang and Zeng Qinghong had a secret meeting. An overseas report said that Zhou Yongkang, then a member of the Standing Committee, had a secret meeting with the retired Zeng Qinghong in Beijing in the spring and summer of 2011, when Jiang Zemin was seriously ill. “Zhou confessed to this meeting with Zeng Qinghong right after he was arrested, and Zhou claimed he then approached Zeng Qinghong to discuss and discuss with him the transfer of Bo Xilai back to Beijing immediately after Jiang Zemin’s death.”
The mainland stock market crash, which occurred in June and July 2015, was said to be an “economic coup” initiated by the Jiang faction. Lai Xiaomin, former Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison, and Xiao Jianhua, the arrested founder of the Tomorrow System, were all involved. Zeng Qinghong is one of Xiao’s backers and has close ties with Lai Xiaomin.
Ma Jian, the former Vice Minister of State Security, who was sentenced to Life in prison, was Zeng Qinghong’s pawn. The real reason for Ma’s fall was reportedly his involvement in the CCP’s power struggle, as Ma was a secret weapon of Zeng Qinghong and Zhou Yongkang, and was directly involved in the Jiang faction’s “coup” plot. Ma Jian had helped Zhou Yongkang build a secret archive of Chinese Communist Party officials.
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