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Fu Zhenghua, China’s minister of justice, has stepped down as the ministry’s deputy Communist Party chief. Photo: Simon Song

China’s justice minister leaves Communist Party role ‘in sign career is coming to an end’

  • One commentator says 65-year-old Fu Zhenghua has reached retirement age and move does not appear to be linked to corruption investigation into former colleague
  • Fu made his name in prostitution bust at elite Beijing nightclub and later helped bring down security chief Zhou Yongkang

China’s justice minister, Fu Zhenghua, has stepped down as the ministry’s deputy Communist Party chief, indicating his likely retirement.

Fu, 65, who became minister in 2018, was no longer listed as a party leader on the ministry’s website on Tuesday.

But he is still listed as a minister and member of the Communist Party’s policymaking body, the Central Committee.

According to a report by news site Thepaper.cn on Monday, Fu attended a study meeting of the ministry in late March and was referred to as deputy party secretary and minister. He also took part in an online seminar on the Covid-19 pandemic about a week ago as minister.

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State news agency Xinhua reported that Tang Yijun, governor of Liaoning province, appeared at the “Secure China” national conference on Tuesday with Guo Shengkun, chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission.

Tang’s surprise appearance has raised speculation that he might be Fu’s successor.

Fu, from Hebei province, made his name with a high-profile prostitution bust at Beijing’s exclusive Passion nightclub months after he was named the capital’s police chief in 2010.

In 2013 he took a leading role in the investigation of the country’s former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, who was eventually jailed for life for corruption and abuse of power.
But in 2016 his career suffered a setback when he was removed from the Central Politics and Law Commission, the Communist Party’s top security body.

Although he continued to advance through the ministerial ranks, becoming justice minister in 2018, in China’s party-state structure government roles are subordinate to party ones.

The commission is considered the most powerful law enforcement organ, as it directly oversees the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, the police and the spy agency, while the justice ministry has a more limited role.

Fu played a key role in bringing down former security chief Zhou Yongkang. Photo: Reuters

Wu Qiang, an independent Beijing-based political commentator, said Fu had reached the ministerial retirement age and it appeared his career was coming to an end.

Wu said the development did not appear to be related to his former colleague Sun Lijun, a public security vice-minister who was recently placed under investigation by the anti-corruption watchdog.

Fu was a public security vice-minister between 2013 and 2018, during which time he worked with Sun, who was in charge of the national security bureau, on a series of crackdowns.

“Fu is already 65 years old. It’s the age for a formal retirement. Moving from the Ministry of Public Security to the Ministry of Justice is already a smooth landing for him. If he didn’t make mistakes as justice minister, he won’t be investigated on corruption grounds,” Wu said.

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This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: justice minister leaves party post
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