During the inspection period, Xu Yahua, the former Chief Engineer of the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Transportation, was investigated on June 3, 2026. Xu Yahua was a subordinate promoted and trusted by the “Crown Prince Party” Li Xiaopeng, who was in charge of the Ministry of Transportation before and after his resignation in November 2024, leading to continuous cleansing within the transportation system.
On June 3, 2026, according to the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party and the National Supervisory Commission, the former Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Transportation, Xu Yahua, was suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is under investigation as reported by the Inspection and Supervision Team stationed at the Ministry of Transportation and the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision.
Xu Yahua, born in May 1962 in Ning County, Zhejiang Province, graduated from the Transportation Planning and Management Department of Chang’an University. From 1983 to 2021, he served in various positions within the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Transportation, including Director and Deputy Director of the Highway Department Office, Deputy Director of the Road Transport Department, Inspector of the Transportation Service Department, and Director of the Transportation Service Department. In February 2021, he was promoted to Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Transportation.
Of note, Xu Yahua was a subordinate during Li Xiaopeng’s tenure at the Ministry of Transportation.
Li Xiaopeng, the son of former Chinese Premier Li Peng, was born in June 1959. He had a long career in the power system, serving as General Manager and Party Secretary of China Huaneng Group Corporation. Starting in 2008, he held positions as Vice Governor and Governor of Shanxi Province. In September 2016, Li Xiaopeng succeeded Yang Chuantang as Minister of Transportation, serving until his resignation in November 2024, a tenure lasting eight years. During this time, Li Xiaopeng became the Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Transportation in May 2023, stepping down in September 2024.
In September 2016, Li Xiaopeng became Minister of Transportation, while Xu Yahua was promoted to Director of the Transportation Service Department in October 2016. Four years later, in February 2021, Xu Yahua was appointed Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Transportation.
The timing of Xu Yahua’s downfall is sensitive, occurring during the time of the central inspection team’s presence. Reported on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, from mid-April to the end of June 2026, the Central Fourth Inspection Team conducted regular inspections on the Ministry of Transportation and its affiliated National Postal Administration and Civil Aviation Administration of China.
Publicly known, the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Transportation is a ministry-level department responsible for the administrative management of railways, highways, shipping, ports, urban passenger transport, and civil aviation under the State Council, overseeing agencies such as the National Railway Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the National Postal Administration.
One year before Li Xiaopeng’s resignation, from late October to mid-December 2023, the Central Fifth Inspection Team conducted a “look back” inspection on the Party Committees of the National Railway Administration and the China Railway Group. Following this, several high-ranking officials in the Chinese railway system were subsequently investigated, including Wang Lijuan, former Deputy Director and Party Secretary of Beijing Railway Bureau and Station Master, and Zhao Honggang, former Deputy Director of Wuhan Railway Bureau.
On June 12, 2025, Fei Dongbin, a member of the Communist Party Committee of the Ministry of Transportation and Secretary as well as Director of the National Railway Administration, was investigated while in office. During Li Xiaopeng’s term as Minister of Transportation, Fei Dongbin became a member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Transportation in September 2022, and took on the role of Secretary of the Railway Administration Party Committee in October 2022.
Just before the arrival of the inspection team, from April 8 to 10, 2026, five high-ranking officials in the Chinese transportation system were investigated, including Wang Shaocheng, former Director of the Dalian Transportation Bureau in Liaoning Province, Sun Weiliang, General Manager of the Henan Railway Construction Investment Group, Ma Baofu, former Party Secretary and Director of the Transportation Bureau of Guyuan City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Xian Xiong, former Deputy Director of the Transportation Department in Sichuan Province, and Peng Hong, former member of the Party Committee of the Sichuan Transportation Investment Group.
During the recent period of inspection team presence, several transportation officials were investigated. Li Zhigang, Chief Engineer of China Southern Airlines Co., was investigated on May 28, 2026, while Wang Jinshen, Deputy General Manager of the Engineering Technology Branch of China Southern Airlines Co., was investigated on May 18, 2026.
Furthermore, Zhang Zhengyu, former Deputy Director of the Transportation Bureau of Guizhou Province, and Wu Yaotian, former Director of the Transportation Committee of Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, were investigated on May 8, 2026. Jia Ruxing, former First Inspector of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Team of the Chongqing Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision stationed at the Municipal Transportation Committee, was investigated on May 27, 2026.
From December 2025 to the present, in less than six months, six officials of the Guizhou Provincial Transportation Bureau were investigated intensively, including former Director Zhang Yin. An article published at the end of 2025 by the public account “Ecological Southeast Guizhou” mentioned that the transportation system is highly professional, forming a relatively closed “circle.” Within this circle, personal relationships and intertwined interests can easily form alliances. The series of cases in the Guizhou Provincial Transportation Bureau exposed deep-seated problems in the concentrated area of specific powers in terms of institutional constraints, supervision mechanisms, and even the political ecosystem.