[The Epoch Times, June 7, 2022]On the eve of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, strange trends have appeared in the personnel affairs of the foreign affairs system.
First, Le Yucheng, the popular vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was transferred to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television. Later, it was rumored that Liu Haixing, a senior official of the National Security Committee, was transferred to the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, again targeting the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, but the news was not confirmed.
At the same time, a number of non-diplomatic officials with business management experience have recently been airborne to serve as ambassadors abroad, which is rare.
What’s the inside story behind these trends?
Three Wang Yi’s successor Le Yucheng has the most strange trend
Wang Yi, the foreign minister of the Communist Party of China born in October 1953, is expected to abdicate at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Whether it is possible to succeed Yang Jiechi as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and director of the Central Foreign Affairs Office is still unknown.
However, around the position of foreign minister, there have been changes in many popular candidates.
One of the original popular candidates, Liu Jianchao, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, succeeded Song Tao as head of the Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee in May, basically ruling out the possibility of succeeding Wang Yi.
Another candidate is the current Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng.
However, the pro-Communist Hong Kong media “Sing Tao Daily” reported on May 26 that the 58-year-old Le Yucheng will be transferred to the CCP’s State Administration of Radio, Film and Television as the deputy director, which means that Le Yucheng is not eligible for the position of foreign minister.
Moreover, as of May 28, the “General Administration Leader” column on the official website of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television of the Communist Party of China showed (see the screenshot below) that Le Yucheng ranked second to Nie Chenxi, director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and above the other three deputy directors.
However, Le Yucheng’s name was later removed on the same day.
Both “Sing Tao Daily” and Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported on the incident. The former reported that it was believed to be a technical issue and that Le Yucheng’s appointment as deputy director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television was a foregone conclusion.
As of June 7, the name of Le Yucheng was still in the list of key officials on the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The author mentioned in an article earlier that on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China, Le Yucheng’s original label of “in charge of daily diplomatic work” has been removed a few months ago, or he has already lost power early and has missed the position of foreign minister. The reason for the loss of power may be that it is not left enough. It was during the period when Hua Chunying, Lu Shaye, Zhang Heqing and other diplomats claimed the title of “Wolf Warrior” and competed to perform, Le Yucheng once said, “To label us ‘Wolf Warrior Diplomacy’ is at least a misunderstanding of the CCP’s diplomacy. You must know that China has always been a country of etiquette, and peace is the most precious…”
Le Yucheng probably did not try to figure out what he liked, and he is likely to be regarded as not enough left or evil enough, so he could not stay in the diplomatic system. Even if Le Yucheng stays in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he may not be able to take over as foreign minister, and he can only endure and continue to stand still.
On May 30, “Sing Tao Daily” also stated that Liu Haixing, deputy director of the Office of the Central National Security Committee of the Communist Party of China, will serve as the executive deputy minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But the report has now been withdrawn.
Liu Haixing, 59 years old, graduated from the French Department of Beijing Foreign Studies University. In the past, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He served as Minister of the Embassy in France, Director of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2017, he transferred to the National Security Office. He also serves as the vice-chairman of the Supervision and Judicial Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.
The National Security Committee of the Communist Party of China is personally commanded by Xi Jinping, and all the candidates have been checked by Xi. It is obvious that Liu Haixing has gained Xi’s trust. If Liu Haixing, who has the experience of the National Security Office, returns to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it echoes the authorities’ frequent promotion of political security, that is, to deal with regime crisis. , was placed on the diplomatic level to be emphasized. And Liu Haixing is obviously aiming at the position of foreign minister.
Diplomatic gang infighting and corruption
The aforementioned series of bizarre and even suspected oolong diplomatic personnel movements may involve gang infighting in the diplomatic system.
In 2018, an insider wrote an article in Hong Kong’s “Outpost” magazine, revealing that the personnel relationship within the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs is complicated and there are many gangs. The major factions include BFSU (Beijing Foreign Studies University) faction, BFSU (Beijing International Studies University) faction, BFSU (Beijing Language and Culture University) faction, SISU (Shanghai International Studies University) faction, China Foreign Affairs University faction, Guoguan (International Studies University) faction The School of Relations), Peking University (Peking University), Fudan (Fudan University), etc., there are even more small factions. Intrigue between factions.
Among them, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi is the leader of the North Second Expatriate.
The article also disclosed that, for a long time, a large number of three generations of red officials have flooded the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relying on the power of Lao Tzu to run rampant and domineering. Department-level and deputy minister-level officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs want to be promoted, and they also have to hold the thighs of these three generations of red and three generations of officials.
In January 2020, the inspection team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection named the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the problem of “not wide-ranging selection and employment”. This statement corresponds to the diplomatic system’s employment of “only red is the best choice”.
Wang Yi himself is half of the second generation of red, and his father-in-law Qian Jiadong is a professional diplomat who once served as Zhou Enlai’s foreign affairs secretary. Later, he served as the ambassador of the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, and Qian’s colleagues and subordinates in the diplomatic system were widely distributed. Most of them took care of and supported Wang Yi.
Le Yucheng was born with no background, and his alma mater is Nanjing Normal University.
Liu Haixing, who is rumored to be returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is different. He not only belongs to the Beijing Foreign Studies University School, the largest faction in the diplomatic system, but is also a second-generation celebrity. His father Liu Shuqing served as the instructor of the First Division Company of the New Fourth Army and the political instructor of the Pharmacy School of the Ministry of Health of the Shandong Military Region before the establishment of the Communist Party of China. After the establishment of the Communist Party of China, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Secretary-General of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the State Council, and President of the Institute of Foreign Affairs of the Communist Party of China.
Liu Jianchao, who has been transferred to the liaison department of the CPC Central Committee, was previously seen as one of the favorites to be the next Chinese foreign minister. Although he is not a descendant of the Red, he also belongs to the largest gang in the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Beijing Foreign Languages Academy.
Chinese diplomats often speak in a scolding and domineering tone, giving people a sense of growing hostility.
The entire CCP’s foreign affairs system has shown loyalty to the left, and seems to have been spared by the CCP’s top leaders in terms of corruption. It is one of the less affected by the anti-corruption. Except for Zhang Kunsheng, then assistant minister of foreign affairs of the Communist Party of China in 2015, and Cao Baijun, former director of the Fourth Bureau (Africa Bureau) of the Central Liaison Department, who were investigated in 2018, few high-level diplomats have been investigated.
But it does not mean that diplomats are so clean. Hong Kong’s “South China Morning Post”, which is also one of the major foreign propaganda, once reported that because Beijing is out of reach, the CCP’s overseas institutions (including embassies and Chinese-funded companies) often become corrupt officials. refuge. The disadvantages of overseas offices are closely related to official corruption in the mainland (actually alluding to Beijing’s diplomatic headquarters), and the former is an extension of the latter.
Is the latest deployment of business cadres by CCP ambassadors abroad related to preparations for attacking Taiwan?
In addition to the aforementioned paradoxical situation, an unprecedented diplomatic personnel movement has quietly debuted recently. Since May this year, a number of cadres from the CCP’s non-diplomatic system have been appointed as diplomatic envoys abroad.
On May 31, Wei Huaxiang, the former Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Shandong Agricultural Development Credit Guarantee Co., Ltd., has served as the Consul General of the Communist Party of China in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Mainland media said that Wei Huaxiang was born in Dongying City, Shandong Province in January 1972. He did a lot of research on international trade when he was a student. He has served as Deputy Director of Shandong Provincial Department of Commerce, Secretary of the Party Committee of Linyi City, Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the State-owned Enterprise Shandong Agricultural Company.
On May 30, Huang Shifang was appointed Consul General of the Communist Party of China in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah, Malaysia.
Huang Shifang has worked in Guangxi for a long time before, and served as the director of the International Cooperation Office of the Beibu Gulf (Guangxi) Economic Zone Planning and Construction Management Committee Office, the deputy secretary and mayor of the Dongxing Municipal Party Committee, the director (concurrently) of the Management Committee of the Dongxing Border Economic Cooperation Zone, and the Communist Youth League Guangxi Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Member of the Standing Committee of the Guangxi Laibin Municipal Party Committee, Minister of the Propaganda Department, and Deputy Mayor.
In addition, Han Chunlin, former deputy secretary of the Municipal Party Committee of Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, has served as the ambassador of the Communist Party of China to Romania. Han Chunlin used to be the deputy inspector of the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the Ministry of Commerce, the deputy director of the Anti-Monopoly Bureau and the deputy director of the Office of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council, and the Shanxi Provincial Department of Commerce. Secretary, Minister.
There is also Chen Daojiang, former deputy secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Shandong Land Development Group Co., Ltd., who has served as the Chinese ambassador to Jamaica.
This kind of situation where officials from the non-diplomatic system with experience in economic management are parachuted together, why is this? The author suspects that it has something to do with the CCP’s plan to attack Taiwan.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the situation in the Taiwan Strait also continued to be tense. Last month, a recording of a secret meeting of high-level pre-war mobilization leaders in Guangdong Province was exposed online. The recording shows that the meeting mentioned that “overseas mobilization” is an important support for the war against Taiwan: “To give full play to the advantages of our province’s large number of overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese, many state-owned enterprises and private enterprises going abroad, and more economic and trade cooperation with countries along the “Belt and Road”, Adopting the method of attracting the army by the people and supporting the army by the people, purchasing high-end precision machinery, special materials and other materials in short supply in China, as well as large-scale strategic reserves such as oil, grain, and minerals, to break the wartime U.S. and Western alliances siege and block our strategic materials. Bureau.”
According to this recording, the CCP should learn from the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and try to prepare in advance to break the containment.
If the CCP wants to engage in so-called overseas mobilization during its attack on Taiwan, then embassies abroad will become mobilization bases, especially in the procurement and coordination of materials. It may be a special arrangement for the CCP to suddenly drop several officials with experience in business management as ambassadors abroad.
The aforementioned four countries, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Romania and Jamaica, are all important countries in the “Belt and Road” “cooperation” of the CCP.
In addition to the suspected preparedness factor that was deliberately arranged, the airborne officials from outside the diplomatic system also echoed the problem of the diplomatic system being criticized by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of “not having a broad vision for selecting and employing people.” The authorities may try to break the situation in which the red descendants have dominated the diplomatic system for many years and the relationship is intertwined.
However, doing so may bring about new problems, that is, those young people who have graduated from the Diplomatic Academy will correspondingly lose the opportunity to experience abroad and room for advancement, and will inevitably lead to dissatisfaction. According to the instructions of the highest level of the CCP, the CCP’s diplomatic system, which emphasizes “dare to fight,” will not only target the outside world, but will also be further directed inward, exacerbating the infighting before the regime collapses.
Responsible editor: Sun Yun#