On Dec. 21, Bi Jingquan visited Lingshou County, Hebei Province for research in his capacity as deputy director of the Economic Committee of the Chinese National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and executive vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
As the safety of China’s domestically produced vaccine for the Chinese Communist Party virus (also known as the new coronavirus, COVID-19) is being questioned, Bi Jingquan, the former party secretary of China’s General Administration of Market Supervision and Administration who resigned over the Changchun Changsheng vaccine case, has added a new role to his role as deputy chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, appearing in Hebei province.
According to official media reports in Hebei, Bi Jingquan visited Lingshou County in Hebei Province on Dec. 21 in his capacity as deputy director of China’s National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference’s Economic Committee and executive vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
According to the news, Bi Jingquan has been appointed as the executive vice chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges.
Public information shows that Bi Jingquan, born in September 1955, a native of Qing’an County, Heilongjiang Province, had since worked for many years in China’s National Planning Commission and China’s National Development and Reform Commission. in March 2008, Bi Jingquan, then deputy director of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, assumed his new position as deputy secretary general of China’s State Council, and in January 2015, he became director of China’s State Food and Drug Administration and In August 2018, Bi Jingquan was asked to resign because of the Changchun Changsheng tainted vaccine case.
In July 2018, Changchun Changsheng Biological Company was reported to have falsified vaccines and the fake vaccines caused the deaths and disabilities of children were exposed, sparking mass outrage. The State Drug Administration circular said that Changchun Changsheng Biological Company mixed some batches with expired stock solution and some batches did not fill in the production date and batch number truthfully in the process of producing rabies vaccine.
The investigation also found that more than 650,000 doses of pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus vaccines produced by Changchun Changsheng and Wuhan Biological Products Research Institute Ltd. were also problematic and had been sold to Shandong, Hebei and Chongqing.
Under public pressure, officials subsequently revoked Changchun Changsheng’s drug production license and fined the company 9.1 billion yuan; the Shenzhen Stock Exchange mandatorily delisted the company’s shares; and the company’s chairman, Gao Junfang, and 18 others were arrested.
On August 16, 2018, seven provincial and ministerial officials were held accountable by the central government for the Changchun Changsheng vaccine case: Jin Yuhui, vice governor of Jilin Province, and Li Jinxiu, vice chairman of the Jilin Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, were removed from their posts, ordered to resign, took the blame, and were examined. Among them, Wu Zhen, former deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration, was filed for review and investigation.
Wu Zhen became the first provincial ministerial-level official to be investigated for the Changchun Changsheng vaccine incident.
And Bi Jingquan was the central committee member who resigned in the incident to take the blame. Then, on August 27, 2020, Bi Jingquan was added to the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) as deputy director of the CPPCC Economic Committee, until this time with a new identity as executive vice president of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, officially making a low-key “comeback”.
It is reported that the China Center for International Economic Exchanges is an association organization, which is a so-called international economic research, exchange and consulting service organization under the supervision of the National Development and Reform Commission of China, and the chairman of the center is Zeng Peiyan, the former vice premier of the Chinese State Council.
In the official circles of the CCP, the resurgence of problematic officials had sparked great controversy.
In 2014, the Xinjing Daily reported that of the 52 cases of official removals that have attracted public attention since 2008, 85 officials were removed from their posts, of which 30 percent were reinstated. Six years after the Sanlu tainted milk powder incident, the three Shijiazhuang city leaders who were removed from their posts at the time have all been reinstated.
In November 2015, Shanghai officials announced that the merger of Jing’an District and Zhabei District and the appointment of An Lusheng as the Secretary of the CPC District Committee. And a look at An Lusheng’s resume reveals that he served twice as chief dispatcher of the Communist Party’s Ministry of Railways, while both left the post after a mega accident.
An Lusheng was the chief dispatcher, assistant director and deputy director of Nanchang Railway Bureau, director of Shijiazhuang Railway Branch of Beijing Railway Bureau, branch director of Wuhan Railway Branch, director of Wuhan Railway Bureau, and chief dispatcher of the Ministry of Railways. During his tenure as the chief dispatcher of the Ministry of Railways, he had a major accident of “4.28” of Jiaoji Railway in 2008 and a major accident of Wenzhou train in 2011.
On April 28, 2008, a passenger train collided near Wangcun Station of Jiaoji Railway in Zibo City, Shandong Province, killing 72 people and injuring 416 others. After this incident, An Lusheng was removed from his position as chief dispatcher of the Ministry of Railways. However, soon after his removal, An Lusheng became the director of the Chengdu Railway Bureau after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
On July 23, 2011, train D301 collided with train D3115 on an overpass between Yongjia and Wenzhou on the Yongwin Line, resulting in a particularly serious railroad traffic accident that killed 39 people and injured 192 others. After this, An Lusheng left his post as Chief Dispatcher of the Ministry of Railways again to become the Director of Shanghai Railway Bureau.
Zhang Renliang, then governor of Jing’an District, who was removed from his post in 2010 because of the Jing’an fire, returned to Shanghai as president and deputy secretary of the party committee of the wholly state-owned Shanghai Tongsheng Investment (Group) Co.
The Voice of America quoted social scholar Tian Qizhuang as saying that according to the logic of the Chinese Communist Party, these officials “actually share the worries, take the blame, and carry the burden for the Party. In this case, the party feels that he has merit and should be reappointed when the opportunity arises. They are considered comrades whom the Party can trust.”
According to Tian Qizhuang, the reason for the reinstatement of removed officials lies mainly in the fact that the people have no real right to vote.
Hu Xingdou, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, told Deutsche Welle that the officials’ comeback is inevitable under the current system. “Because the official’s hat is in the hands of his superiors. He can be reinstated whenever his superiors want him to, no matter how big a mistake he has made. The people have no say. Herein lies the problem. The official and his superiors are often complicit, in cahoots, or they form a network of power. The superior will generally do everything possible to protect the subordinate, because if he does not protect his subordinate, problems with the subordinate will involve the superior, and a nest case will be formed.” Hu Xingdou said the root cause is still the lack of democratic supervision.
Hu Xingdou said, in developed countries, if an official has broken the law, or there are moral issues, then I’m afraid he will never want to return to politics.
Netizen “all to freedom” said: “No wonder the removal from office at every turn. The original is to make the masses sound feel strong, in fact, nothing to do.” Netizen “middle-aged tiger” said: “Everyone is acting, why take it seriously.”
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