Former Chinese president Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) top aide has been arrested on corruption charges, stripped of his party membership and removed from all government positions, China’s state media said on Monday.
The ruling by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Politburo Standing Committee came seven months after Ling Jihua (令計劃) was placed under internal investigation for disciplinary violations.
The fall of Ling, whose former position is comparable to the US president’s chief of staff, has come amid a stern anti-corruption campaign by Hu’s successor, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The campaign is seen by many as a means to not only restore public confidence in the ruling party, but also to root out threats to Xi’s political dominance.
Photo: EPA
Jeffrey Bader, a senior fellow at Washington-based think tank Brookings Institution, said the expulsion of Ling from the party and the arrest was long expected.
“It’s the sign of the determination of Xi Jinpng and the leadership to go after high-level actors in the anti-corruption campaign,” Bader said.
Ling held a sensitive position, but never made it into the party’s top echelon.
His disgrace followed the fall of two more prominent Chinese political figures — former politburo member Bo Xilai (薄熙來) and Zhou Yongkang (周永康), who served on the Politburo Standing Committee until his 2012 retirement. However, unlike Bo and Zhou, Ling had no clear evidence of opposing Xi, and the Youth League faction to which Ling belonged has not been politically targeted at the highest level, Tsang said.
Ling, formerly head of the party’s general office under Hu, became well known in China in 2012 when his son crashed a Ferrari in Beijing with two nude or half-dressed women in the vehicle, according to various reports. Ling was accused of covering up the scandal.
Xinhua news agency said the internal investigation found Ling took huge amounts of money through bribery and used his position to seek benefits for others. It said Ling had allowed his family to benefit financially from his political influence.
In other developments, Chinese authorities are to prosecute one of the former top graft busters in Guangdong Province for corrupt practices, including bribery and interference in corruption investigations, the government said yesterday.
Zhong Shijian (鐘世堅), who had been head of Guangdong’s corruption prevention bureau, has been expelled from the CCP and handed over to legal authorities for prosecution, the party’s graft-fighting Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said.
A probe found that Zhong had interfered in cases, leaked details of investigations to those being probed, took bribes and gave bribes in exchange for promotions, among other crimes, it said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
The National Development Council (NDC) yesterday unveiled details of new regulations that ease restrictions on foreigners working or living in Taiwan, as part of a bid to attract skilled workers from abroad. The regulations, which could go into effect in the first quarter of next year, stem from amendments to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及僱用法) passed by lawmakers on Aug. 29. Students categorized as “overseas compatriots” would be allowed to stay and work in Taiwan in the two years after their graduation without obtaining additional permits, doing away with the evaluation process that is currently required,
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS