Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

Corruption hunt widens to Jiang Zemin’s stronghold of Shanghai

BEIJING — The most extensive anti-corruption campaign in modern Chinese history is about to be unleashed on Shanghai, the country’s commercial capital and the stronghold of former president Jiang Zemin.

Mr Jiang Zemin (right) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shanghai earlier in May. Mr Jiang still has enormous influence in the Communist party. PHOTO: EPA

Mr Jiang Zemin (right) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shanghai earlier in May. Mr Jiang still has enormous influence in the Communist party. PHOTO: EPA

BEIJING — The most extensive anti-corruption campaign in modern Chinese history is about to be unleashed on Shanghai, the country’s commercial capital and the stronghold of former president Jiang Zemin.

Until now, China’s most populous city has been left largely unscathed by a campaign that has been the centrepiece policy of President Xi Jinping’s 20-month-old administration and placed hundreds of thousands of officials under investigation.

However, a large task force from the Communist party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the body investigating allegations of crimes or wrongdoing committed by party members, has arrived in Shanghai and will remain there until the end of September.

The news comes a day after the party formally launched a corruption investigation into Mr Zhou Yongkang, former head of the secret police and the most senior figure to be accused of corruption in the history of the People’s Republic of China.

Many political analysts believe the investigation into Mr Zhou, who has been in detention since the end of last year, will be the high water mark of Mr Xi’s anti-corruption drive.

They argue that targeting more senior retired officials would destabilise the authoritarian state.

However, by turning the anti-corruption campaign on Shanghai, Mr Xi is threatening the legacy of Mr Jiang, 87, who has retained enormous influence in the party since he retired from the presidency in 2003.

Of the seven members of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, the body that in effect rules China, four or five are considered close to Mr Jiang. Before he was made president in 1989, Mr Jiang was Communist party boss of Shanghai and his still-powerful faction is known as the “Shanghai Gang”. Political insiders say Mr Xi is incensed by Mr Jiang’s pervasive lingering influence in the party and the military.

Anti-corruption investigations have already targeted several people with close ties to the former president, including Mr Xu Caihou, a former Military Commission vice-chairman.

The most recent example is Mr Wang Zongnan, an acolyte of Mr Jiang and former chairman of Bright Food, which owns Weetabix breakfast cereal in the United Kingdom. A corruption probe into him was opened on Monday. THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.