Former Inner Mongolia Party Secretary Sun Shaocheng was investigated on January 29, 2026. Sun Shaocheng had worked closely with the then Deputy Assistant of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission, Fang Yongxiang, at the Ministry of Veterans Affairs for nearly four years. Fang Yongxiang is currently the Director of the General Office of the Military Commission but has not been seen in public for a long time, sparking continuous rumors about his involvement in the issue. Sun Shaocheng’s former partner, Wang Lixia, Chairman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government, was also investigated in August 2025 during her tenure.
On January 29, 2026, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party and the National Supervisory Commission reported on their website that Sun Shaocheng, Vice Chairman of the Social Construction Committee of the Fourteenth National People’s Congress, was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and laws” and is under investigation.
Sun Shaocheng, born in July 1960 in Haiyang City, Shandong Province, is a fellow villager from Shandong of Peng Liyuan, the wife of the Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping. He graduated from the Chinese Language and Literature department of Shandong University.
Sun Shaocheng had a long career at the Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Communist Party since 1984, holding positions such as Deputy Director, Deputy Head of Bureau, Head of Bureau, Deputy Minister, among others. Before the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, in August 2012, Sun Shaocheng returned to his hometown in Shandong to serve as the Vice Governor of Shandong.
After Xi Jinping came to power at the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Sun Shaocheng’s career advanced rapidly. In September 2014, he replaced the fallen Deputy Minister-level female official Bai Yun and became a member of the Standing Committee of the Shanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and Minister of the United Front Work Department. In November 2016, he became a member of the Party Group of the Shanxi Provincial Government and Vice Governor. In February 2017, he returned to the Ministry of Civil Affairs as the Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Deputy Minister. In May 2017, he was transferred to the Ministry of Natural Resources as the Secretary of the Party Group and Deputy Minister. In March 2018, he became the Minister and Secretary of the Party Group of the newly established Ministry of Veterans Affairs. In April 2022, he was transferred to become the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In September 2025, he stepped down as the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and subsequently became the Vice Chairman of the Social Construction Committee of the National People’s Congress.
In March 2018, the Chinese Communist Party issued the “State Council Institutional Reform Plan,” which established the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, integrating responsibilities from the Ministry of Civil Affairs for the welfare and settlement of veterans, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security for the employment and resettlement of military officers, and relevant responsibilities of the Political Work Department and the Logistics Support Department of the Military Commission. The Ministry of Veterans Affairs was officially established on April 16, 2018.
Sun Shaocheng served as the first Minister of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs from March 2018 to June 2022. During this period, Fang Yongxiang, the then Deputy Assistant of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission, also served as the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs from April 2018 to January 2022, with the two working together for nearly four years.
Fang Yongxiang, born in 1966 in Xiamen, Fujian, is a member of Xi Jinping’s Fujian faction within the military. He served for many years in the former Nanjing Military Region and from 1989 to 2014 in the 31st Group Army stationed in Xiamen, Fujian, having connections with the fallen former Central Military Commission member Miao Hua. In 2018, Fang Yongxiang was transferred to the Ministry of Veterans Affairs as the Deputy Minister and also served as the Deputy Assistant of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission, intersecting career paths with Miao Hua for the second time.
At the end of 2021, Fang Yongxiang was promoted to the rank of Major General of the Army, and in early 2022, he was transferred to positions such as the Deputy Political Commissar of the Southern Theater Command and the Political Commissar of the Land Forces in the Theater Command. In March 2024, he moved to Beijing and succeeded Zhong Shaojun as the Director of the General Office of the Military Commission, becoming a key figure in Xi’s military circle. In April 2024, Fang Yongxiang accompanied Xi Jinping on an inspection tour to Chongqing, and in the same year in September, he was appointed as a member of the Military Election Committee.
In March 2025, there were rumors of Fang Yongxiang being dismissed and reassigned as the Deputy Political Commissar at the Academy of Military Sciences, with some reports suggesting that he was under investigation. During meetings with military representatives in Tibet in August 2025 and in Xinjiang in September 2025, Fang Yongxiang was absent.
During the Fourth Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party in October 2025, 8 Central Alternate Committee Members were not replenished as usual, including Fang Yongxiang, the Director of the General Office of the Military Commission, among other 5 Major Generals.
On August 22, 2025, Wang Lixia, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Chairman of the Autonomous Region government, was investigated. Just over a month after Wang Lixia’s investigation, Sun Shaocheng, aged 65, was relieved of his position as the Party Secretary of Inner Mongolia on September 30.
Sun Shaocheng served as the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from April 2022 to September 2025. Wang Lixia served as the Vice Secretary of the Party Committee of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Chairman of the Autonomous Region government from September 2021 to August 2025. The two worked together for nearly three and a half years.
After Sun Shaocheng was relieved of his position, Du Wen, a former Inner Mongolia official living overseas, revealed on September 30, 2025, that Sun Shaocheng’s dismissal was related to Wang Lixia’s investigation. After Sun Shaocheng took over as the Party Secretary of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, his son frequently participated in various activities in Inner Mongolia, maintaining a close relationship with Wang Lixia’s son. Their involvement spanned a wide range of areas, from engineering contracts to personnel adjustments and mining development.