Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Xi Jinping’s campaigns to root out corruption from the ranks of the Communist Party of China (CPC) has fallen on Shenzhen as well.
The Guangdong metropolis, China's third-largest economic hub, symbolises Beijing's ambitions in the field of new technologies. Its former mayor, Qin Weizhong, 55, is now under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation for suspected serious violations of Party discipline and state laws, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission reported on their official website.
Speculation had been mounting since 24 August, when the standing committee of the Shenzhen People's Congress unexpectedly appointed the then-deputy mayor, Li Yun, to replace him, stating only, and tersely, that Qin had been assigned to a different post.
The move appeared rather odd at the time, given that Shenzhen is set to host the APEC summit in November with China holding the rotating presidency, bringing together countries from the Asia-Pacific region.
Qin was considered a rising star within the CPC. Born in Jilin province, with a degree and doctorate in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University, he worked extensively in the state energy sector, eventually becoming deputy general manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation in 2017.
Appointed deputy governor of Guangdong province two years later, and elevated to the rank of deputy minister, he subsequently became mayor of Shenzhen in April 2021.
At the time, he was the first mayor born in the 1970s and the youngest high-ranking government official among China’s sub-provincial cities.
It is also worth noting that his predecessor as mayor, Chen Rugui, had also come under investigation following his removal from office, eventually being sentenced to life imprisonment in 2024.
News of the investigation into the Shenzhen mayor broke on the very day that the CPC, during a meeting of the Central Committee’s Politburo presided over by Xi Jinping, officially sanctioned the expulsion of two senior military officers, months after it was announced they were under investigation for “serious violations of the law”.
One of them, Zhang Youxia, held the position of senior deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission, making him China’s highest-ranking general. The other official is former general Liu Zhenli.
Anti-corruption campaigns involving the sudden ousting of prominent figures have characterised Xi Jinping’s rule; however, the move against Zhang particularly struck CPC observers due to his high rank and the perception that he was very close to the Chinese leader.
The politburo has scheduled the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee, to be held in Beijing from 26 to 29 October, which will focus on reviewing a document dedicated specifically to the Party’s “full and rigorous self-governance”. This event promises to be crucial for the internal balance of power ahead of next year’s Congress.
