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Liu Hongwu, vice-chairman of the southern region of Guangxi, has been detained on suspicion of corruption. Photo: Handout

Chinese anti-corruption blitz snares another senior official

  • The detention of Guangxi vice-chairman Liu Hongwu comes ahead of the annual meeting of the country’s top anti-corruption agency
  • This week also saw a former senior security official being charged with bribery and a city’s former Communist Party boss admitting to corruption
A senior Chinese provincial official is facing a corruption investigation – becoming the latest in a series of detentions and charges announced against high-ranking officials this year.

The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the Communist Party’s top disciplinary watchdog, said on Friday that Liu Hongwu, 56, vice-chairman of the southern region of Guangxi, had been detained on suspicion of “serious violations of discipline and the law” – an euphemism for corruption.

Ex-deputy commander of Xinjiang paramilitary body accused of corruption

The first indication of his downfall happened on Wednesday when his name disappeared from the government’s official website, according to a Guangxi official.

Liu spent his entire career in Guangxi, serving in various leading positions in the Guangxi Development and Reform Commission and being made the region’s vice-chairman in July 2020.

News of his detention came ahead of the CCDI’s annual work conference, which is usually held in the last w eek of January – a time when the detention and trial of senior officials is often announced.

On Thursday, prosecutors in the northeastern city of Changchun officially charged Sun Lijun, a former public security vice-minister, with accepting a “huge amount” of bribes, market manipulation and the illegal possession of firearms, signalling that his trial would likely begin soon.

On the same day, Tong Daochi, 54, former party chief of southern Hainan province’s tourist city Sanya, pleaded guilty to taking 274 million yuan (about US$43 million) in bribes and engaging in insider trading. His sentence will be announced at a later date.

Earlier this month, the anti-corruption agency also announced that Zhang Yongze, Tibet’s vice-chairman, and Wang Bin, chairman of China Life Insurance (Group), were under investigation.

Earlier this week, President Xi Jinping, who is expected to address the CCDI’s conference, warned officials there would be “no mercy” for those who broke the rules.

On Saturday the state broadcaster CCTV will broadcast the first episode in an anti-corruption documentary co-produced with the CCDI, which will feature on-camera confessions from senior officials.

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