The 20th Fifth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is scheduled to be held in Beijing from October 26th to 29th, with the theme of “Advancing Comprehensive and Strict Governance of the Party.” Less than two weeks before the meeting, on October 13th, former Mayor of Chongqing, Huang Qifan, was officially announced to be under investigation. Experts point out that Huang Qifan’s downfall is mainly attributed to the economic commentaries he has published over the years that have irked the CCP leader, Xi Jinping.
Huang Qifan served in Chongqing for 15 years, working alongside six Party Secretaries successively, weathering the downfalls of two Secretaries, Bo Xilai and Sun Zhengcai, earning him the moniker of “political survivor.” His sudden downfall has raised suspicions among the public.
Legal expert Yuan Hongbing, who resides in Australia, mentioned to Epoch Times that Huang Qifan may have felt secure after retiring. “According to sources within the CCP, the main reason for Huang Qifan’s downfall is the series of economic commentaries he has spread over the years, which directly contradict Xi Jinping’s current economic ideology.”
Veteran journalist Ji Shuoming, who has interviewed Huang Qifan several times, stated to Ming Pao, “Huang Qifan became too high-profile after stepping down, turning into a popular official on the internet, giving speeches everywhere, which is a big taboo in the political circle.” Ji Shuoming indicated that this might have displeased some people, but he was uncertain about the specific reasons behind Huang’s downfall.
After stepping down as the Mayor of Chongqing in 2016, the 74-year-old Huang Qifan served as the Vice Chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress, then moved to become a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in January 2018. In recent years, he has been giving lectures across the country in various capacities such as Vice Chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center and Chairman of the Industrial Transformation Advisory Committee of Tsinghua University’s Internet Industry Research Institute, gaining popularity as an economist.
On September 8th of this year, Huang Qifan attended the Silk Road Maritime International Cooperation Forum held in Xiamen and delivered a speech. But when he was recently blocked from giving a lecture at Tsinghua University, and the forum scheduled for him on the 26th of this month at a five-star hotel in Hangzhou was also canceled for “reasons.”
Regarding Xi Jinping’s intentions, Yuan Hongbing remarked to Epoch Times that in order to trigger a war in the Taiwan Strait, Xi aims to transition the entire Chinese political, economic, and cultural fields into a state of war. As for the transformation of the economy into a wartime state, one key direction is to bring the economy back to a planned economy, that is, a wartime economy. Xi intends to control the economic lifelines in the hands of state-owned enterprises. Since Huang Qifan has been advocating the market economy of the Zhu Rongji era, this has infuriated Xi Jinping, who views it as intolerable rebellion against the so-called “Xi Jinping Economic Thought.”
There are various explanations circulating online about the reasons behind Huang Qifan’s downfall, with some attributing it to his family’s corruption.
Yuan Hongbing pointed out that Huang Qifan’s issue of corruption is nothing out of the ordinary; corruption and bribery have become the norm for all CCP officials. Xi Jinping is merely using corruption allegations to handle political dissidents. Even for a retired official of more than ten years, “as long as you still have residual influence in certain areas, if Xi Jinping perceives that you are not absolutely loyal to him, you will be subject to purging.”
“All these retired officials surely harbor deep-seated hatred towards Xi Jinping,” he stated.
The upcoming Fifth Plenary Session at the end of October will focus on the theme of “Comprehensive and Strict Party Governance.”
Political commentator Li Linyi believes that the move to target Huang Qifan is carefully orchestrated by the Xi administration to silence all officials. This also reflects Xi’s deep-seated concerns about unstable power.
Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Studies researcher Shen Mingshi mentioned to Epoch Times that Beijing’s arrest of Huang Qifan indicates that the authorities are still cleansing important political positions and dealing with political legacy issues representing past eras. This crackdown will greatly escalate the fear among local officials. As Huang Qifan has deep connections with the finance and real estate sectors, the authorities may embark on a large-scale cleansing targeting politically-connected businessmen and local officials involved in decision-making related to local debts.
(A contribution to this article was made by the Epoch Times contributor Chang Chun)