On October 13th, Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing, was officially announced to be under investigation. Reports indicate that he was taken away at Shenzhen Airport on October 10th after attending a real estate event in Zhongshan. Commentators speculate that Huang Qifan ran into trouble under the jurisdiction of Huang Kunming, the Party Secretary of Guangdong Province, and that Huang Kunming may also be affected.
According to a report by Hong Kong’s “Ming Pao” on October 15th, Huang Qifan attended a real estate opening event at the Huayi Hotel in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, last Saturday (the 10th) and delivered a speech. Several related videos from that day circulated on social media platforms. This is believed to be Huang Qifan’s last public appearance before his downfall. Sources revealed that he was detained at Shenzhen Airport that day.
Independent commentator Cai Shenkun shared related videos on platform X on October 14th, saying, “Huang Qifan ran into trouble on Huang Kunming’s turf after he spoke in Zhongshan. He was directly taken away by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection after the speech. Despite repeated warnings against retired cadres from impetuously criticizing the central government’s major policies, Huang Qifan continually crossed the line. Given the strict control over retired cadres, Huang Qifan’s invitation to speak in Zhongshan, Guangdong, whether approved by the Guangdong Provincial Propaganda Department or by Huang Kunming himself, may require an explanation afterward.”
Huang Kunming is one of the representatives of the Fujian faction in Xi’s political clique and previously served as the Minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.
After stepping down as mayor of Chongqing in 2016, the 74-year-old Huang Qifan served as the Vice Chairman of the Finance and Economic Committee of the National People’s Congress and later transitioned to a member of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in January 2018. In recent years, he has delivered speeches around the country in various capacities, including as the Vice Chairman of the China International Economic Exchange Center and the Chairman of the Industrial Transformation Advisory Committee at Tsinghua University, becoming a popular economist.
On September 8th of this year, Huang Qifan attended the Silk Road International Cooperation Forum on Maritime Affairs in Xiamen and delivered a speech. However, his scheduled speech at Tsinghua University was recently blocked, and it was reported that his participation as the keynote speaker at a forum at a five-star hotel in Hangzhou on October 26th was also “canceled due to reasons.”
Cai Shenkun, in an interview with Radio Free Asia, indicated that Huang Qifan’s investigation may be related to his economic comments. Huang Qifan’s biggest problem is that despite being retired for ten years, he has refused to stay silent, which irritates Xi Jinping the most. This is because in 2022, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued a guideline stating that retired leaders must not indiscriminately criticize the central government. While Huang Qifan avoids discussing politics, he does talk about economics, and some economic data that he discusses are not things the Communist Party of China wants to openly address.
Legal expert Yuan Hongbing, currently in Australia, also informed the Epoch Times on the 14th that Huang Qifan believed he was safe after retirement. “According to insiders within the CCP system, the main reason Huang Qifan ran into trouble is because over the years he has spread a series of economic opinions that directly conflict with Xi Jinping’s current economic ideology.” Xi Jinping aims to transition the economy into a wartime state, while Huang Qifan advocates for the market economy of the era under Zhu Rongji, which has irked Xi Jinping.