Former member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Bi Jingquan, who fell from grace in May last year, has been indicted today (April 14th). Bi Jingquan, who was a key aide to Vice Premier Wang Qishan and Wang Yang in the past, later oversaw national drug regulation. He resigned in 2018 in connection with the Changchun Changsheng vaccine scandal and made a comeback two years later before being brought down last year.
After nearly a year since his downfall, Bi Jingquan, former member of the CPPCC and former deputy director of the Economic Committee, was officially announced to be prosecuted on April 14th.
The Chinese prosecution alleged that Bi Jingquan abused his various positions of power and the conveniences they provided, using his authority or status to seek benefits for others, illegally accepting large sums of money and should be held accountable for bribery.
The positions Bi Jingquan is suspected of taking bribes include Vice Secretary-General of the State Council, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the China National Medical Products Administration, a senior official at the National Administration for Market Regulation, member and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the CPPCC in the thirteenth and fourteenth sessions, as well as the Deputy Director-General and Director-General of the Chinese Center for International Economic Exchanges.
Bi Jingquan was announced to have been removed from office on May 29 last year and was expelled from the party and dismissed from public office on December 8.
Turning 71 years old this year, Bi Jingquan hails from Qing’an County, Heilongjiang Province. He had a long career at the National Development and Reform Commission of China, serving as Director, Secretary-General, and Deputy Director of the Economic and Trade Department. In 2008, he became the Vice Secretary-General of the State Council. During his seven-year tenure as the Vice Secretary-General of the State Council, Bi Jingquan assisted Vice Premiers Wang Qishan and Wang Yang with their daily affairs.
From 2015 to 2018, Bi Jingquan served as the Director of the China National Medical Products Administration, and in March 2018, he became the Deputy Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation but resigned later that year due to the Changchun Changsheng vaccine scandal in Jilin.
In August 2020, Bi Jingquan made a “comeback” as the Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the thirteenth National Committee of the CPPCC and became a member of the Standing Committee and Deputy Director of the Economic Committee of the fourteenth National Committee of the CPPCC in March 2023.
Regarding Bi Jingquan’s resignation in 2018 and subsequent comeback two years later before his downfall last year, current affairs commentator Li Lin told Epoch Times that the situations of Bi Jingquan and former Hubei Party Secretary Jiang Chaoliang, who was relieved of his position in 2020 due to the pandemic before returning to a role in the National People’s Congress and being investigated in October last year, are similar. Behind these scenarios lies the power struggle among the high-ranking officials themselves. In the world of the Chinese Communist Party, no one is free from greed, and anti-corruption is merely a manifestation of power struggles.