Chinese authorities have reportedly brought down three government-level (zhengbuji, Minister-level) senior officials in the past two weeks, including Yi Lianhong, who served as the party secretary of Zhejiang province. China News reported on the 10th that the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission said Yi is under supervision and investigation on suspicion of serious disciplinary and legal violations.
After serving as party secretary of Jiangxi province and Zhejiang province, Yi Lianhong has served since Nov. 2024 as deputy director of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress of China. Taiwan's Central News Agency said several members of Yi's family and a real estate developer are also being investigated, and that his son is suspected of receiving a large bonus by leveraging his father's influence.
This is the third time those surveyed at the government level have come under investigation. On the 29th, Sun Shaocheng, who served as Minister of Veterans Affairs and party secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and is now deputy director of the Social Development Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress of China, came under supervision and investigation, and on the 31st, Wang Xiangxi, Minister of Emergency Management, also came under investigation on suspicion of disciplinary violations.
Citing the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China News said that 12 senior cadres (zhongguan ganbu, Vice Minister-level or above appointed by the Communist Party of China Central Committee) have already been investigated this year.
It added that including Zhang Youxia, the Central Military Commission vice chairman and the military's No. 2 figure, and Liu Zhenli, chief of staff of the Joint Staff Department, who are currently investigating on corruption charges, the number of senior officials caught on corruption charges this year has reached 14.