Beijing – The Chinese government said Wednesday that it had disciplined two officials for illegally seizing farmland, two days after it removed the party chief of Shanghai on corruption charges.
The moves, coming a little more than a week ahead of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership meeting, have raised speculation that President Hu Jintao is acting on a dual agenda: purging potential rivals while he attempts to quell public unrest over government corruption and impunity.
The dismissal Monday of Chen Liangyu, a protégé of former President Jiang Zemin and a member of Beijing’s ruling politburo, was seen as part of an ongoing nationwide crackdown on corruption.
But analysts noted it also allows Hu to reshuffle provincial leadership and position his own allies for key promotions in the central government.
Wednesday’s announcement also may have been timed to show that Shanghai, and Chen, are not being singled out for discipline, and to demonstrate that the central government is responding to rising unrest in the countryside over seizure of farmland, observers said.
The government-controlled New China News Agency said Li Xinmin, the former vice governor of Henan province, and Wang Wenchao, the former mayor of the province’s capital, had been given “serious warnings” for sanctioning the seizure of almost 2,470 acres of agricultural land for a school campus.
Gan Yisheng, general secretary of the Communist Party’s Discipline Inspection Commission, said at a news conference that the party had expelled 11,071 members for graft and bribe-taking in 2005 – out of a party membership of 70 million.
As the Shanghai investigation continues, more disciplinary action could be taken against the city’s senior leaders and their relatives. Reports are spreading that security has been stepped up at Shanghai airports and officials’ passports have been confiscated to prevent potential suspects from fleeing.
