Official Announcement of Twelve Senior Officials Entering the National People's Congress: Are They Safe Now?

On March 5, 2023, CCP leaders attended the opening session of the National People's Congress.

[People News] On November 6, the official media of the Communist Party of China announced in the evening the new appointment list approved by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the 14th National People's Congress. This includes the appointments of Wang Junzheng and Wang Ning as vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Ethnic Affairs Committee; Wang Kai as vice chairperson of the National People's Congress Supervisory and Judicial Committee; Gong Zheng and Mao Weiming as vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Financial and Economic Committee; Liang Yanshun and Wang Yubo as vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Education, Science, Culture and Health Committee; Liu Ning, Ren Zhenhe, and Wang Zhengpu as vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Rural Committee; and Shen Xiaoming and Wang Qingxian as vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress Social Construction Committee.

According to convention, taking office in the National People's Congress serves as a transitional role for these senior officials before their complete retirement. They have all previously held positions as officials at the ministerial level under the central government, or as secretaries or governors of various provinces. On the surface, their retirements appear to be due to age, specifically:

Wang Junzheng, 63, formerly Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee, stepped down in September this year.

Wang Ning, 65, formerly Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, stepped down in October this year.

Wang Kai, 64, formerly Governor of Henan Province, stepped down in September this year.

Gong Zheng, 66, formerly Mayor of Shanghai, stepped down in September this year.

Mao Weiming, 65, formerly Governor of Hunan Province, stepped down in October this year.

Liang Yanshun, 64, formerly Secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, stepped down in September this year.

Wang Yubo, 63, formerly Governor of Yunnan Province, stepped down in early November this year.

Liu Ning, 64, formerly Secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, stepped down in September this year.

Ren Zhenhe, 62, formerly Governor of Gansu Province, stepped down in September this year.

Wang Zhengpu, 63, formerly Governor of Henan Province, stepped down in October this year.

Shen Xiaoming, 63, formerly Secretary of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, stepped down in October this year.

Wang Qingxian, 63, formerly Governor of Anhui Province, stepped down in September this year.

However, according to CCP regulations, officials at the ministerial level generally retire at the age of 65, with some allowed to remain in office until around 68. Several of the officials mentioned above, including the 62-year-old Ren Zhenhe and the 63-year-old Wang Junzheng, could conceivably have served another term. Nevertheless, they were ultimately reassigned to largely ceremonial positions in the National People's Congress. Based on precedents, some of them may leave office without incident, while others cannot be ruled out as potential targets of an investigation.

A few days ago, overseas self-media commentator Jiang Wangzheng claimed in a report that Ren Zhenhe was currently under investigation and that he was implicated in the Wei Xiaodong case. Wei Xiaodong was the former chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. During Cai Qi's tenure as Beijing Party Secretary, Wei served as a member of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee and head of its Organisation Department, becoming Cai Qi's key aide. He was promoted several times by Cai.

According to Jiang Wangzheng, the Wei Xiaodong case came to light because of allegations that he had helped arrange the buying and selling of official positions for several key members of the Fujian faction. Its key figures reportedly include Cai Qi, Chen Xi, Wang Xiaohong, Huang Kunming, and He Lifeng, collectively known as the "Five Tigers of the Min River." They are said to have been implicated, to varying degrees, in Wei Xiaodong's alleged buying and selling of official positions, with Wei serving as the Fujian faction's "front man" in the political sphere.

This also means that if Ren Zhenhe is deeply implicated in the Wei Xiaodong case, the possibility that he could eventually fall from power cannot be ruled out.

Take Wang Junzheng, for example. He is a prominent figure associated with Xi Jinping's political network, specifically the "Shandong faction" and the "Tsinghua faction." He once served as secretary to Linghu An, the former Secretary of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee. After the CCP's 18th National Congress, he received strong backing and promotions from Chen Xi, a close ally of Xi Jinping, and subsequently held key positions in Hubei, Jilin, Xinjiang, and Tibet.

According to a notice issued by the Tibet Commission for Discipline Inspection, more than ten department-level officials in Tibet were investigated between April and September 2026. Nearly all of them were subordinates during Wang Junzheng's tenure, including Xiao Chuanjiang, Deputy Director of the Tibet Party Committee's Publicity Department and Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Regional Department of Culture and Tourism, as well as Zhong Chongdong, Director of the Tibet Party Committee's Social Work Department, among others. In that case, can Wang Junzheng really emerge completely unscathed?

In addition, reports had previously surfaced overseas alleging that Shen Xiaoming was also under investigation.

One cannot help but ask: Of these 12 senior officials who have just been officially announced as having taken up positions in the National People's Congress, how many will spend their days living in fear, anxiously awaiting the day they are taken away?

(First published by People News) △