Reports Indicate That Zeng Qinghong Has Been Placed Under House Arrest, and the Entire Family of Jiang Zemin's Niece Has Been Detained

The image shows a warning cone in Tiananmen Square.(Feng Li / Getty Images) dajiyuan

[People News] On June 14, Cai Shenkun, an independent columnist and former media figure living in the United States, cited sources from Beijing indicating that Zeng Qinghong is under house arrest. Cai expressed that he was not surprised by this news, as many of Zeng's close associates and former subordinates have already been taken down in the ongoing anti-corruption campaign targeting both 'tigers' and 'flies.' It was only a matter of time before Zeng faced similar repercussions.

Cai Shenkun has a history of accurately predicting insider information from the upper echelons of Zhongnanhai, similar to Zhao Lanjian, with many of his forecasts later confirmed by the CCP, such as the arrests of Miao Hua and the 'heart attack death' of Xu Qiliang. Consequently, this news has garnered significant attention.

Independent commentator Chen Pokong analysed that Zeng Qinghong was a key player in Xi Jinping's rise to power during the 18th National Congress of the CCP. Currently, there are increasing signs of Xi Jinping's power being curtailed, and it is highly likely that Zeng is being placed under house arrest by anti-Xi elders in order to advocate for Xi to regain and stabilise his power.

Zeng Qinghong served as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat during the 15th and 16th Central Committees and was a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau during the 16th Central Committee. He was Jiang Zemin's personal secretary and became Jiang's most trusted aide due to his role in helping Jiang seize power and eliminate political rivals. Since Jiang Zemin's death at the end of November 2022, Zeng has effectively emerged as a major figure within the Jiang faction.

However, Cai Shenkun did not provide details on when Zeng was placed under house arrest, by whom, or where he is being held. Recently, at a symposium commemorating the 120th anniversary of Chen Yun's birth, neither Zeng Qinghong nor any members of the Jiang family were present, which immediately caught the attention of political observers.

In the program 'Panic and Surprise,' self-media commentator Da Yu stated that Xi Jinping is rumoured to have lost power, with the actual power holders being Hu Jintao, Hu Deping, Wen Jiabao, and Li Ruihuan, all of whom are considered adversaries of the Jiang family. On June 12, Fei Dongbin, the son-in-law of Han Zhubin, Jiang Zemin's brother-in-law and former Chief Prosecutor, was announced to be under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It is not surprising that members of the Jiang family are beginning to be arrested, and the house arrest of Zeng Qinghong is not unexpected. 

Du Wenze, who previously served as the deputy director of the Legal Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia Legal Affairs Office and the dean of the Institute of Canon Law and Sociology, exclusively revealed that it is not just Fei Dongbin who has been arrested; the entire family of Jiang Zemin's niece has also been taken into custody. In a video program, he mentioned that the family of Wang Yeping, Jiang Zemin's widow, including her niece and nephew-in-law, has already been implicated and arrested. A common saying in China goes, 'When hitting a dog, look at its owner,' indicating that the Jiang family's influence has waned. 

Some even suggest that earlier this year, when party media reiterated that there are no 'iron-hat kings' in the anti-corruption campaign, it was not without basis and was implicitly referring to the investigation of Zeng Qinghong, suggesting that the authorities had long been planning to arrest him. 

However, rumours about Zeng Qinghong being placed under house arrest have circulated for several years. For instance, in April 2016, following the handling of political figures like Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai, as well as military leaders such as Guo Boxiong, reports emerged that Zeng Qinghong, who was a key figure in the Zhou-Bo coup and deeply involved in a plot to assassinate Xi Jinping, had been placed under internal control at his home in Beijing, with restrictions on his ability to travel abroad and engage in other activities.

In previous years, a significant number of close associates and former subordinates of Zeng Qinghong were arrested and sentenced. This group included Su Rong, Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Ma Jian, former Deputy Minister of State Security, Zhang Yue, former Director of the Public Security Bureau's '610' Office, Xiao Jianhua, the so-called white glove of the Zeng family from the Tomorrow Group, and Wang Yujun, former President of China Resources Power Holdings Company Limited, among others. Many officials associated with Zeng Qinghong, including those from the oil faction, the secretary faction, and the Shanghai faction, were also implicated and fell from power at that time, leading many to believe that Zeng Qinghong would not escape this crisis. However, in a surprising turn of events, Xi Jinping, in order to consolidate his power within the Party, reached an agreement with Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong during the 19th National Congress. They decided that the anti-corruption campaign would cease targeting the 'iron-hatted kings' in exchange for support from Jiang and Zeng's factions for Xi's re-election. Consequently, some have remarked that 'cutting the edge of the skirt' does not necessarily imply that core figures will face trouble; for instance, Wang Qishan serves as a notable example. △

(First published by the People News)