Shandong Provincial Government Deputy Secretary-General Lu Jie is under investigation during his tenure. Some analysts believe that when a secretary at the middle level like Lu Jie gets into trouble, it may signal the downfall of higher-ranking officials he has worked with before.
According to the announcement from the website of the Shandong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of the Chinese Communist Party yesterday (January 4), Lu Jie is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and laws” and is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervision investigation by the Shandong Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission.
Public records show that Lu Jie, 61 years old this year, has long been working in the Shandong Provincial Government Office. From May 2015 to November 2016, he served as Deputy Director of the Shandong Provincial Government Office; in November 2016, he became Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government. From May 2021 to January 2024, he was the Director of the Shandong Provincial Institutions Affairs Management Bureau. In 2024, Lu Jie was removed from the position of Director of the Provincial Institutions Affairs Bureau and transferred to Deputy Secretary-General of the Shandong Provincial Government (department-level).
Political commentator Li Linyi pointed out that Lu Jie, as a department-level official, getting into trouble as a middle-level secretary could indicate the downfall of higher-ranking officials he has worked with.
During Lu Jie’s tenure as Deputy Secretary-General of the provincial government in 2016, he served as the secretary to then Deputy Governor Liu Qiang.
Liu Qiang, born in March 1971 in Haiyuan, Ningxia, had a long career in the Chinese Agricultural Bank system. He served as the President and Party Secretary of the Shanghai Branch of the Agricultural Bank, Vice President of the Bank of China, Deputy Governor of Shandong Province since September 2018, member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee since May 2020, and member of the Standing Committee of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of Jinan Municipal Party Committee since March 2022, as well as the first secretary of the Jinan Garrison Party Committee. He is a candidate member of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
It is worth noting that Liu Qiang was the chief secretary during Li Ganjie’s tenure as the top official in Shandong. During Li Ganjie’s time as Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Liu Qiang was transferred from Secretary-General of the Provincial Party Committee to Secretary of the Jinan Municipal Party Committee. Li Ganjie is currently a member of the Politburo. In April 2023, he took over the powerful position in personnel management as Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee, but in a rare move on March 31, 2025, he was swapped with Minister of the United Front Work Department Shi Taifeng, sparking speculation about his fall from grace.