Former senior Chinese security cadre Liu Yanping under corruption cloud

Liu accused of violations of discipline and law, Communist Party’s anti-graft body says
He is the 12th high-ranking official to fall from grace this year

China’s Communist Party

Frank Tangin Beijing

Published: 9:00pm, 12 Mar 2022

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A former anti-corruption chief of China’s Ministry of State Security is under investigation as the Communist Party seeks to “purify” its ranks in the countdown to its national congress this autumn.

Liu Yanping, 66, was under investigation for “suspected violation of discipline and law”, the party’s anti-graft body, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said in a one-sentence statement on Saturday.

The charge is a widely used euphemism for corruption or political mistakes and is usually followed by a conviction.

Liu is the 12th high-ranking official to fall from grace this year and first since the annual national legislative meeting concluded on Friday.

Liu graduated from China University of Political Science and Law and had a long career in the police department in Beijing before being appointed as vice-minister of public security in 2013.

Two years later, he became the head of discipline inspection at the Ministry of State Security.

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China’s police forces have come in for heavy scrutiny since the country’s anti-corruption drive was launched a decade ago.

The campaign has claimed many “tigers”, or senior cadres, including Sun Lijun.

Sun was sacked as vice-minister of public security and expelled from the party on September 30 last year after being accused of “forming gangs and factions, seriously undermining the unity of the party, and causing extreme danger to the political security”.

Two days later, Fu Zhenghua, who was promoted to vice-minister of public security in 2013 and justice minister five years later, was detained for investigation.

Earlier this month, Wang Dawei, the police chief of the northeastern province of Liaoning was detained on a similar charge as Liu.

Speaking at a panel discussion of the “two sessions” last weekend, President Xi Jinping called for constant self examination to remove harmful factors that damaged the party’s purity.

“We must always stay sober-minded and firm about anti-corruption efforts, to ensure that officials dare not be corrupt, cannot be corrupt, and do not want to be corrupt,” state news agency Xinhua quoted him as saying.

The CCDI, now headed by 65-year-old Zhao Leji, a member of Politburo Standing Committee, is also due to convene a plenary meeting to elect new leadership later this year.

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