Chinese official leading security purge ‘may be on fast track to promotion’, analysts say

Chen Yixin is heading a campaign to ‘clean up the diseases and tumours’ in the country’s law enforcement agencies

It will end ahead of the twice-a-decade party congress, and observers say he could be promoted to the Politburo

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Chen Yixin compared the new campaign to the Yanan Rectification Movement, a political and ideological purge in the 1940s. Photo: Handout

Published: 10:30pm, 17 Jul 2020Updated: 4:30pm, 14 Aug 2023

The security official leading a campaign to purge “corrupt elements” from China’s law enforcement agencies may be in line for a fast rise up the political ladder, according to observers.

Chen Yixin, secretary general of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission – which oversees police officers, prosecutors, courts and prisons – announced the two-year “rectification and education campaign” a week ago.

It would target law enforcers who colluded with or offered protection to criminals and “two-faced” officials who paid lip service to the Communist Party’s rules and orders, he said.

At a meeting to launch the campaign in Beijing last week, Chen described it as “a self-initiated revolution by the security system to clean up the diseases and tumours among us”.

He also compared it to the Yanan Rectification Movement – a political and ideological purge in the 1940s to remove rivals and establish Mao Zedong as the leader of the party.

President Xi Jinping sees the security forces as critical to his rule and to stability, a political scientist noted. Photo: Reuters

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