‘Suicides’ among Chinese Communist Party members

Zheng Xiaosong’s suicide is one more “abnormal death” caused by "depression". For the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences, half of all cadres suffer from this condition. Some 243 deaths by suicide were recorded between 2009 and 2016.

Beijing (AsiaNews) – Macau police announced that the suicide of Zheng Xiaosong, director of China’s Macau Liaison Office, “was not suspicious, nor was there any criminality” involved.

According to Beijing’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO), the 59-year-old Zheng “suffered from depression”.

His death, a few days before the inauguration of the great bridge between Zhuhai, Macau and Hong Kong, raises questions however.

First, psychological fragility appears to be widespread among Party members.  According to the Institute of Psychology of the Academy of Sciences, at least 50 per cent of party officials suffers from this condition.

Still, some suspect that too many suicides among Party leaders are too quickly attributed to depression.

One publication, Caixin, listed the names of officials who took their own lives. They include: Wang Xiaoming, Beijing deputy party secretary who threw himself from a building last May; But Lihun, head of transport in Hubei who also threw himself out of a building in May 2016; Jiang Hongliang, deputy party secretary in Wuyi who jumped from a pagoda in March 2015; Chen Baifeng, deputy mayor of Weifang (Shandong) who hanged himself in June 2014; and Bai Zhongren, president of the China Railway Group who died in January 2014.

According to Institute of Psychology, there have been many “anomalous deaths" among high- and middle-ranking party and government officials: 243 between 2009 and 2016. The highest number, 59, was recorded in 2014.

• china
• macau
• suicide
• officials
• communist party
• zheng xiaosong
• anti-corruption campaign