The disgraced former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) boss of Shanghai has been kicked out of China's legislature, moving him one step closer to formal legal prosecution, a news report said.
Chen Liangyu (陳良宇) -- the highest-level party official to be dismissed in a decade -- was removed from the National People's Congress, the financial magazine Caijing said in a story posted on its Web site late on Tuesday.
report
A report on Chen's dismissal was also posted on the Web site of a state-run television station but was later taken down.
The Caijing report said Chen was dismissed at a meeting on Tuesday of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai People's Congress.
"Chen Liangyu's dismissal means that a nearly one-year long inspection is reaching the end and will enter into formal judicial procedures," Caijing said.
It said he was removed for "a serious breach of discipline."
Chen is accused of being at the center of a scandal last year over the alleged misuse of about US$400 million in pension funds that were improperly invested in real estate and road toll projects.
The scandal came as the CCP was cracking down on widespread corruption ahead of a party congress later this year.
refusal
Shanghai government spokeswoman Jiao Yang (
"We are not authorized to answer this question," she said.
Shanghai government officials announced in May that all the misused funds had been recovered, but the results of a secretive investigation into the case have yet to be announced.
Earlier this year, the head of Shanghai's multimillion dollar Formula One auto racing track, Yu Zhifei (
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
NOVEL METHODS: The PLA has adopted new approaches and recently conducted three combat readiness drills at night which included aircraft and ships, an official said Taiwan is monitoring China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises for changes in their size or pattern as the nation prepares for president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comment at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, in response to Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu’s (王定宇) questions. China continues to employ a carrot-and-stick approach, in which it applies pressure with “gray zone” tactics, while attempting to entice Taiwanese with perks, Tsai said. These actions aim to help Beijing look like it has
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,