China has stepped its anti-corruption purge, targeting some of the core members of networks exposed by the former detained security Chief Zhao Yongkang and other top officials, whose suspected misuse of high-office is now under the scanner.
An editorial posted on the Xinhua website has signalled that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the powerful in-house body that exercises vigil over the Communist Party of China (CPC) is targeting three “cliques” — the Oil Clique; the Secretary Clique; and the Shanxi Clique. These factions have apparently been exposed following the recent fall from grace of “tigers,” including Mr. Zhao, a former politburo member, who is now under investigation.
President Xi Jinping’s escalating anti-corruption drive is part of a comprehensive reform process, which is meant to spur China’s “rejuvenation,” and fulfil the “Chinese Dream”.
Heads have begun to roll in China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), which Mr. Zhao once headed.
The attack on the “oil clique” has led to the exit of Jiang Jiemin, a former company chairman. Others who have been netted include Wang Yongchun, a former CNPC Vice-President and chief geologist and general manager of the state-owned enterprise.
Mr. Zhao was also seemingly connected with sections of the Secretary Clique, comprising individuals who have borne the title of Secretary on their resume. These include, Ji Wenlin, who was once Mr. Zhou’s personal secretary, when he was the Minister of Land and Resources towards the tail-end of the 1990s.
‘Shanxi clique’The investigation last month of Ling Jihua — a confidant of former President Hu Jintao — has drawn sharp focus on a network of powerful people belonging to the Shanxi province. Xinhua reported that Mr. Ling was the mastermind of the “Shanxi clique” — a secretive body that also included other high-ranking officials and business managers from the province.
The strike on the “Shanxi clique,” is now echoing in the Foreign Ministry, where the name of Zhang Kunsheng, a senior diplomat of the rank of Assistant-Foreign Minister, who belongs to the province, was removed from the Foreign Ministry website on January 1.
Ahead of the New Year, President Xi presided over a meeting of the political bureau of the CPC Central Committee, which asserted that that there was no room for factionalism in the party.
In a statement CCDI, which is spearheading the anti-corruption campaign, said that it was adopting new measures to catch high-ranking “tigers” and low-ranking “flies”.
