On April 19, Zheng Jia, the former Party Secretary and Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Shanwei CPPCC in Guangdong Province, was investigated.
On April 19, Zheng Jia, the former Party Secretary and Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Shanwei City, Guangdong Province, was investigated. Some sources said that Zheng Jia was investigated in connection with the sale of land in Wukan. In addition, he also led the suppression of peaceful demonstrations by Wukan villagers during his tenure as secretary of the Shanwei Political and Legal Committee.
Zheng Jia, 61, a native of Lufeng, Guangdong, had a long tenure in Lufeng County, where he served as secretary of the party committee and director of the management committee of Donghai Economic Development Zone in Lufeng City, Shanwei, and secretary of the party committee and chairman of the town people’s congress in Donghai Town, deputy secretary of the Lufeng Municipal Committee, secretary of the political and legal committee, deputy secretary of the Lufeng Municipal Committee, member of the Standing Committee of the Shanwei Municipal Committee, secretary-general and secretary of the political and legal committee, etc. In January 2017, he became secretary of the party group and chairman of the Shanwei Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. He retired in August 2018.
The official notice of the CPC did not mention the reason for Zheng Jia’s fall.
A source told Hong Kong’s Ming Pao that Zheng Jia’s fall was related to the sale of land in Wukan. The source said that two years ago, when Zheng Jia, the “son-in-law of Wukan,” and a member of his family had an illegal building under construction in Wukan demolished by authorities, local rumors spread that Zheng Jia might not be far from being investigated.
The newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that during Zheng Jia’s tenure as a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanwei Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Lufeng Municipal Committee in June 2013, especially as Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the Management Committee of the Donghai Economic Development Zone in Lufeng, a large area of arable land in Wukan village was forcibly expropriated by the government, and the expropriated area was mostly located in the Donghai Economic Development Zone.
Because of the land expropriation, Wukan villagers have launched several large-scale protests and demonstrations, demanding the authorities to punish corrupt officials.
In September 2011, Wukan villagers staged a massive march to challenge village officials for personal gain through illegal land deals, which attracted international media attention and forced officials to compromise with villagers under pressure to calm the situation. The villagers elected their own village chief, Lin Zuoren, by one person, one vote.
In 2016, Lin Zuoren was sentenced to prison on charges of alleged corruption. Protests broke out as villagers demanded Lin Zuoren’s release. The protests were then suppressed by the Chinese Communist Party’s riot police, many people were arrested, media reporters were expelled and Wukan village fell again.
The source said that Zheng Jia, then secretary of the Shanwei Political and Legal Committee, led the mass arrest of Lin Zulian and others, and suppressed the peaceful demonstrations of the villagers.
The source said that Zheng Jia had been the secretary of the political and legal committee three times (once in Lufeng and twice in Shanwei), and he had been the secretary of the political and legal committee for nearly three years.
Recent Comments