Chinese Communist Party’s former Tibet chief under investigation for corruption

BEIJING: Wu Yingjie, who previously headed the ruling Communist Party of China in Tibet is being probed for severe violations of party discipline, a euphemism for corruption, official media here reported on Monday.

He is currently a member of the Standing Committee of the national advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), and formerly the Secretary of the Tibet unit of the party. He is reportedly under detention.

Wu is under investigation for suspected severe violations of party discipline and the law, Xinhua news agency quoted an official statement as saying.

Following revelations over the investigation into Wu, the number of senior officials who were under investigation from January to June this year has risen to 33, the report said.

This includes Wang Yong, a member of the party leadership group and vice chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Government, who was placed under investigation in January. Chinese official media refer to Tibet as Xizang.

While thousands of party officials, including high-ranking military officials, have been held under corruption since Chinese President Xi Jinping took over power in 2012, in recent months’ top officials who were sacked and probed included ex-Foreign Minister Qin Gang and former Defence Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, whose fate is not known.

Wu, 67, held several important positions especially in Tibet in his decades-long career in the CPC.

Several top leaders, including former Chinese President Hu Jintao, headed the Tibet party unit regarded as the most influential considering the importance of the Himalayan region to China and the political transformation it underwent after China annexed Tibet in 1951.

Wu, also head of the Committee on Culture, Historical Data and Studies of the CPPCC, is being investigated by the CPC’s China Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Commission of Supervision, the report said.

A graduate of the CPC’s Party School, Wu began working for the party in 1974.

He worked in Tibet for an extended period, holding positions such as deputy secretary and director of the party committee of the education department of the region.

In August 2016, he was appointed secretary of the regional Party committee, a position he held until October 2021.

After leaving Tibet, Wu served as deputy director of the education, science, culture, and health committee of China’s Parliament, the National People’s Congress and head of the Committee on Culture, Historical Data and Studies.