New Shanxi party boss outlines vision to turn around graft-ravaged province
Leader emphasises using culture to fight graft on first inspection tour in graft-hit Luliang city
Newly appointed Shanxi party chief Wang Rulin went on his first inspection trip to the coal-rich province, pledging to deepen the anti-graft fight and to promote cadres who are “respected for their integrity”.
Wang, who fills a much-needed leadership vacuum after scores of Shanxi officials were taken away for graft, spent four days in Luliang, a city embroiled in months of corruption scandals, the People’s Daily website reported on Monday.
Several coal tycoons and provincial officials with close links to the city were facing graft investigations, including former vice-governor Du Shanxue, an ex-party boss of Luliang.
”Honestly, some colleagues suggested that I should not visit Luliang for my first inspection tour after taking office in Shanxi, saying that the situation in the city remains very complex,” the website quoted Wang as saying.
”But we should not evade conflicts,” he said.
If Luliang a couple of years ago could have paid attention to [a Qing-dynasty civil-servant's tomb], there would not be so many officials put behind bars
As one of the epicentres of the graft crackdown in Shanxi, Luliang’s cadres must show their loyalty to President Xi Jiinping both ideologically and politically, Wang said.
Wang told officials in Luliang that his “significant task” during the inspection tour – typically a way for a leader to check how people down the chain of command are performing – was to implement Xi’s directive to use history and traditional culture in the campaign against corruption.
To this end, Wang said one of his top strategies was to renovate the tomb of Yu Chenglong, an upstanding, model Shanxi official during the Qing dynasty – as a constant reminder for officials to remain beyond reproach.
”If Luliang a couple of years ago could have paid attention to the renovation [of the tomb], there would not be so many officials put behind bars for corruption,” Wang said.
Luliang mayor Ding Xuefeng and a local coal tycoon, Xing Libin, who owned the Liansheng Group, were also facing a graft probe.
He called on local officials to cooperate with the party’s top anti-graft organ, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, to actively aid and widen the scope of the investigation into higher-ranking officials who have something to hide.
Wang also pledged to promote lower-ranking officials who have integrity, calling them the “hope of Luliang”.
Wang was parachuted into the Shanxi political scene after a career spent in the northern province of Jilin. The former Jilin party chief was named the successor of Yuan Chunqing late last month amid a major reshuffle of the provincial party committee.
Yuan has been sidelined and assigned a new job as deputy head of the party’s Central Rural Work Leading Group, which crafts policies on agriculture and other rural affairs.
Under Yuan’s leadership, Shanxi has been mired in sweeping corruption investigation that has ensnared seven top provincial officials and several coal tycoons. Among those detained was Ling Zhengce, the brother of Ling Jihua, who was a top aide to former president Hu Jintao.
