Meng Jianzhu, a former member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, has been in the news.
Recently, the inspection team of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection once again said that the Ministry of Public Security is not in place to purge the residual poison, which means that a new round of purging of the Ministry of Public Security will follow and who the next big tiger will be, raising concerns. Previously, it was reported that Meng Jianzhu, a former member of the Central Politburo and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, had been taken under control.
According to land media reports, on February 8, the Chinese Communist Party‘s inspection work leading group centrally released the feedback of the sixth round of inspection of the 19th Central Committee, saying that in the inspection feedback, Zhou Yongkang, Meng Hongwei, Sun Lijun and other “tigers” in the units and places to purge the poison is not in place and not thorough enough.
The above three “tigers”, Zhou Yongkang has been sentenced to Life imprisonment in 2015 for bribery, abuse of power, intentional disclosure of state secrets; the Ministry of Public Security former party committee member, Vice Minister Meng Hongwei in January 2020 was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison for bribery; the Ministry of Public Security former party committee member, Vice Minister Sun Lijun in 2020 April 19 to accept the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection State Supervision Commission review.
The purge of the political and legal system, especially the Ministry of Public Security, has been ongoing since Xi Jinping came to power at the 18th National Congress. Since last year, close associates and former ministers of Meng Jianzhu, former secretary of the CCP’s Political and Legal Committee and member of the Politburo, have been investigated. A number of high-ranking officials in the public security system, including Sun Lijun, vice minister of the Ministry of Public Security, Deng Zuling, former vice mayor and public security director of Chongqing, and Gong Daogan, former vice mayor of Shanghai and director of the city’s public security bureau, have fallen from grace.
On January 26 this year, Li Chunsheng, the 60-year-old vice governor of Guangdong Province and head of the Public Security Bureau, stepped down from his post. Li Chunsheng became deputy director of the Political Department of the Ministry of Public Security in 2008 when Meng Jianzhu was in control of the Ministry; after Meng became secretary of the Political and Legal Committee in November 2012, Li was “parachuted in” to serve as vice governor of Guangdong and director of the provincial Public Security Department in 2013.
On January 25, Li Wenxi, vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Liaoning Province and former head of the Public Security Department, was announced to be investigated by the authorities. Li Wenxi, nearly 71 years old, became the first tiger in 2021. Li Wenxi is said to be a hardcore member of the political and legal system cultivated by Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai, and is also one of the close friends of Meng Jianzhu, the former secretary of the CCP’s Political and Legal Committee.
On January 22, Deng Cullin, former vice mayor of Chongqing and former director of the city’s Public Security Bureau, was formally arrested and transferred to prosecution. Deng Cullin and Meng Jianzhu had crossed paths. During Meng Jianzhu’s tenure as secretary of the Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs, Deng Cullin served as the director of the Central Committee of Political and Legal Affairs office. Deng was said to be Meng’s “big butler”.
On January 23, an article in the top headline of Xinhua, the official media of the Communist Party of China, said, “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, deputy mayor and head of Chongqing’s Public Security Bureau, as “involved in gangsterism within the Party, making political capital, keen on political speculation, and arrogantly discussing the central government.”
Chinese scholar Li Linyi said that because of his role as Meng Jianzhu’s chief of staff, Deng Cullin had confidential information about Sun Lijun’s and Meng Jianzhu’s actions on several occasions. After Sun Lijun’s fall, Deng also fell, signaling that the Xi authorities will adopt the same approach as arresting Zhou Yongkang, that is, arresting Meng’s men who are close to Meng Jianzhu first, and then arresting Meng Jianzhu after getting evidence.
Li Linyi said that the mainland’s provincial public security chiefs and political and legal committee secretaries are now on the edge of their seats because many of them were promoted during Meng Jianzhu’s Time in power, that is, in place since 2013. The same goes for the Ministry of Public Security. Now the inspection team’s statement is also a signal to pursue Meng’s forces to the end.
According to reports, Meng Jianzhu was promoted and reappointed by Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong along the way. Some Hong Kong media have said that Meng Jianzhu is “seriously ill and hospitalized” and is being closely monitored and restricted by the authorities. At last year’s 11th anniversary reception in Beijing, Meng Jianzhu, who has been the subject of numerous negative rumors, was also present and appeared to be in good spirits. However, showing up does not mean a safe landing, and Xi Jinping is closing in on Meng Jianzhu with a “skirt-cutting” approach, which is feared to be bad for him at the moment.
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