Rising political star under investigation for graft
BEIJING — The Chinese Communist Party said Monday that Sun Zhengcai, a high-flying politician who had been seen as a potential future premier, was under investigation over suspected “grave violations of discipline,” ending his career and raising the stakes of a national leadership shakeup that is just months away.
Sun, 53, is the most senior politician purged so far in a five-year drive against corruption, disloyalty and abuse of power that President Xi Jinping began soon after taking control of the Communist Party in late 2012. The terse party announcement about the investigation issued through Xinhua, the state news agency, did not specify the allegations against Sun. “Violations of discipline” is a vague term that can include corruption, abuses of power and disloyalty to the party.
But by removing Sun, Xi has eliminated a potential obstacle to his efforts to consolidate power later this year, when a Communist Party congress will appoint a new leadership team to serve under him for his second five-year stint as party leader and as president.
Sun had been party secretary of Chongqing in southwestern China since late 2012, when he was sent there to help clean up a previous political scandal. His abrupt dismissal was announced on June 15, initially without explanation. Since then, he has not appeared in public, and his name had not appeared in state media until the official confirmation Monday that he was under investigation.
Sun was also a member of the Politburo, an elite 25-member council of central and provincial leaders; by rank, experience and age, he had appeared well placed to rise into the Politburo Standing Committee, an even more powerful body.
The removal of Sun allowed Xi to place an acolyte, Chen Miner, in charge of Chongqing. The official investigation against Sun opens the way for his eventual expulsion from the Politburo and replacement by Chen, who worked closely under Xi when they were both officials in the eastern province of Zhejiang.
At the party congress this fall, at least 11 of the 25 members must retire, unless an unwritten rule on the age of retirement is relaxed. They include five of the seven members of the Politburo Standing Committee.
Speculation has circulated that Sun or his family may have been implicated in corruption, but party outlets have said nothing.