On Sunday night, the Luo Zhijun Funeral Working Group of Jiangsu Province issued an obituary: “On April 1, 2023, Luo Zhijun, member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, director of the Agriculture and Rural Committee, former secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, and former director of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People’s Congress Comrade died of illness in Beijing at the age of 72.”
That morning, the Chongqing Municipal Zhang Hongxing Funeral Working Group issued an obituary: “Comrade Zhang Hongxing, Member of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Liangjiang New Area, died of illness at 17:34 on April 1, 2023, at the age of 55.”
“Sing Tao Daily” quoted a source as saying that if an official dies normally, “death” is generally used, and if an official dies abnormally, “death” is used. Both of these two high-ranking officials committed suicide because of depression. It is rumored that they fell to their deaths. In the past few years, Ren Xuefeng, Deputy Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Zeng Wanming, Member of the Standing Committee of the Hunan Provincial Committee and Minister of Propaganda, and Liao Guoxun, Mayor of Tianjin, committed suicide.
According to public information, Luo Zhijun was born in November 1951 in Liaoning, and his father Luo Wen was a major general in the Chinese Communist Army. Luo Zhijun has worked in the central system of the Communist Youth League for a long time. He used to be the secretary-general of the Communist Youth League’s official newspaper “China Youth Daily”, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Youth League Central Committee and the Minister of Industrial Development, and served as the chairman of the “China Youth Industrial Development Corporation”. He is regarded as a “tuanpai” .
In 1995, Luo Zhijun parachuted into Jiangsu and served as deputy secretary of the Nanjing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and deputy mayor. Later, he was promoted to secretary of the provincial party committee.
According to the report, he was deeply appreciated by Li Yuanchao, the old boss of the Youth League Central Committee. Li Yuanchao was the secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee of the Communist Party of China, the head of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and the vice chairman of the country.
Li Yuanchao is accused of having a complicated political background, at least with multiple colors such as “Communist Youth League”, “Princeling”, and “Jiangsu Gang”. It is reported that his father Li Gancheng has a close relationship with Jiang Zemin’s uncle Jiang Shangqing, and was also a subordinate of Zeng Qinghong’s father Zeng Shan.
Current affairs commentator Gao Xin once wrote an article in Free Asia, revealing that Li Yuanchao was the former general secretary of the Communist Party of China, Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, and Zeng Qinghong.
At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Li Yuanchao was originally a popular candidate for the permanent seat, but he also failed. US media quoted sources as saying that because it was revealed that he and Ling Jihua, the former director of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, held a “sea election” before the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
The news also said that after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Li Yuanchao assumed the vain position of Vice President of the Communist Party of China. Two secretaries were also arrested by the authorities. Li Yuanchao knew something was wrong, but in the end Xi Jinping leniently treated Li and did not kill them all. However, at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he was dismissed as a member of the Politburo and withdrew from the center of power, a “soft landing” to The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference serves as a vacant post.
At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Li Keqiang and Wang Yang, two representatives of the Youth League, both retired. Hu Chunhua was also kicked out of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China. The outside world described the Youth League as being “destroyed”. Some analysts believe that the Tuanpai may be further purged in the future.
It is not yet known whether Luo Zhijun’s death is related to this. Given that the CCP has always operated in a black box, it may be difficult for the outside world to know the answer.
The sudden death of 55-year-old Zhang Hongxing also triggered public discussions. According to Lu media reports, on March 23, Zhang Hongxing also met with Song Kui, chairman of Chongqing Energy Group, and his entourage. According to the report, judging from the news photos publicly released at the time, Zhang Hongxing did not show any abnormalities, whether it was his face or his speech and behavior. Unexpectedly, he passed away suddenly eight days later; on the 25th, Zhang Hongxing went to some communities in the new district to investigate. There was nothing unusual about him in the photos of the scene!
Some netizens said: “The second deputy minister in Chongqing who passed away suddenly.” “I have stayed in Nanchang and Fuzhou, and all the former main leaders have gone in.”
According to public information, Zhang Hongxing has worked in Jiangxi for more than 30 years. He has served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Nanchang Municipal Party Committee and Executive Deputy Mayor; He was transferred to Chongqing in May 2010 and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Party Working Committee of Liangjiang New Area.
One month after Zhang Hongxing became the mayor of Fuzhou in March 2015, Xiao Yi, the former vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference, was appointed secretary of the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee; the two have been partners for 6 years. Xiao Yi was sacked in May 2021 and became the first provincial and ministerial-level senior official in China to be investigated for involvement in virtual currency mining.
On March 29 this year, Yin Meigen, deputy director of the Jiangxi Provincial People’s Congress and former vice governor of the Communist Party of China, was sacked. Yin Meigen began to serve as the vice-governor of Jiangxi Province in November 2015. One year later, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Jiangxi Provincial Committee and secretary of the Nanchang Municipal Committee.
Yin Meigen is the second former Party Secretary of Nanchang to be investigated. Nanchang Party Secretary Gong Jianhua was investigated in November 2021; former Nanchang Mayor Guo An was investigated on September 16, 2022.
