[NTD, Beijing time, June 2, 2022]As the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is approaching, the Beijing authorities are speeding up their “fighting tigers”. On June 1, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China hit two “tigers” in a row. Zhang Bencai, the chief prosecutor of the Shanghai Procuratorate, and Chen Rugui, deputy director of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, were sacked on the same day. And they were still attending the event before they fell.
Shanghai’s two chief prosecutors sacked one after another
On the evening of June 1, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China reported that Zhang Bencai, the chief prosecutor of the Shanghai Procuratorate, was suspected of “serious violation of discipline and law” and is currently under investigation.
Before Zhang Bencai was sacked, there were no obvious signs. His last public appearance was on May 30, when he attended a work conference on coordinating epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development held by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and the municipal government. He was suddenly sacked just two days later. He is also the second vice-ministerial-level senior official in Shanghai to be sacked after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, after Gong Daoan, the former deputy mayor of Shanghai and chief of public security.
Zhang Bencai’s predecessor, Shanghai prosecutor Chen Xu, was also sacked five years ago. On October 25, 2018, Chen Xu was sentenced to life imprisonment. Chen Xu is accused of being one of the important members of the “Shanghai Gang”.
According to public information, Zhang Bencai was born in May 1967, a native of Linyi, Shandong Province. He joined the Supreme Procuratorate of the Communist Party of China in July 1990. He has successively served as the head of the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of the Supreme Procuratorate, the president of the Procuratorate Daily, and the deputy procurator of the Beijing Municipal Procuratorate; After January 2013, he served as Director of the General Office of the Supreme Procuratorate and Director of the Information Office; after January 2016, he served as the Chief Procurator of the Shanghai Procuratorate.
Among them, from January 2013 to January 2016, Zhang Bencai served as the director of the General Office of the Supreme Prosecutor and the director of the Information Office, and was the “big housekeeper” and mouthpiece of the then Supreme Inspector General Cao Jianming.
Because of his active participation in the persecution of Falun Gong, Cao Jianming was placed on the tracking list by the International Organization for Investigating the Persecution of Falun Gong. In December 2020, the US State Department announced sanctions on 14 vice-chairmen of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, including Cao Jianming.
“Guangdong Tiger” Chen Rugui delivered a speech four days before the investigation
On the day that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Zhang Bencai had been investigated, Chen Rugui, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress, also retired at the same time. Chen Rugui’s sack was also sudden. His last public appearance was four days ago on May 27. He also made a learning exchange speech at the enlarged meeting of the Party Group of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress and the study meeting of the theoretical study center group.
According to public information, 60-year-old Chen Rugui has worked in Guangzhou for a long time, serving as the director of the Guangzhou Municipal Construction Committee, the secretary-general of the Guangzhou Municipal Government, the secretary-general of the Municipal Party Committee, the deputy mayor, the deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, and the secretary of the Political and Legal Committee.
In 2016, Chen Rugui was transferred to be the secretary of the Zhongshan Municipal Party Committee; the following year, he served as the deputy secretary of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and mayor, becoming a deputy minister.
In April last year, there was a rare “reshuffle” in Shenzhen’s officialdom. All 18 officials above the department level were adjusted on the same day. Chen Rugui also resigned from the mayor of Shenzhen at that time, and was later transferred to the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress. In January this year, he became the deputy of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress. Director, until the fall.
Officials did not report the reason for Chen Rugui’s investigation. It is reported that Chen Rugui may have been involved in corruption in the local urban construction system during his political career in Guangzhou. But it does not rule out that he committed crimes while in Shenzhen.
Chen Rugui is the second “tiger” in Guangdong Province to be sacked after the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Zeng Zhiquan, former member of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and head of the United Front Work Department, was sentenced to life imprisonment in July 2019.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is approaching the Zhongnanhai “fighting tigers” to speed up
Just one day before Shanghai Prosecutor General Zhang Bencai and Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress Deputy Director Chen Rugui were sacked, Zhang Jinghua, former Deputy Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee, was declared “double-open” (expelled from the party and from public office).
Zhang Jinghua was sacked in December last year and was the first alternate member of the 19th Central Committee to be sacked. According to official regulations, at the Seventh Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee held before the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the punishment of expulsion from the Party made by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection will be ratified.
The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is scheduled to be held this fall. Before that, there will be the Beidaihe Conference. High-level factions will have a fierce competition for personnel positions. Against this backdrop, the successive sacks of senior CCP officials seem to signal that the authorities are speeding up their efforts to fight tigers. Experts have analyzed that Xi Jinping will soon start a purge of higher-level officials.
Wu Guoguang, who was a member of the former general secretary of the Communist Party of China Zhao Ziyang’s think tank, analyzed in an exclusive interview with French radio not long ago, “Before July or August at the latest, Xi Jinping’s political purge of high-level political figures will occur.” He said, “It’s here. It should not be surprising that he (Xi Jinping) did this at a crucial preparation stage for the reorganization of power at the 20th National Congress.”
(Editor in charge: Wen Hui)
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