BEIJING (AP) — Chinese anti-graft authorities announced an investigation into a former vice governor, making him latest senior provincial official to be ensnared in a crackdown that the country's new leadership hopes will show its determination to root out widespread graft.
The Ministry of Supervision said on its website that Guo Yongxiang was suspected of unspecified "serious disciplinary violations," a vague term that usually refers to corruption.
Guo's current title is chairman of Sichuan's provincial arts and literary federation, though that's believed to be a semi-retirement position for the 64-year-old official who was formerly vice governor of the southwestern province.
China's new leader Xi Jinping has made a crackdown on corruption and extravagant, wasteful work styles a key feature of his first half-year in power. He has vowed that the crackdown will target both low and senior-level officials.
Since he took over as head of the Communist Party in November, half-a-dozen vice-ministerial level officials have come under investigation, including the deputy party secretary of Sichuan province, Liu Chuncheng, who was fired following state media reports that he was suspected in influence-peddling and questionable real estate deals.
But observers noted that in the latest case, Guo's long association with China's now-retired former security chief Zhou Yongkang suggested the probe into Guo could be part of a larger factional struggle within the party's leadership.