The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) announced today that two current members of the Central Committee, former health committee director Ma Xiaowei and former chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission Yi Huiman, have been reassigned to “second-tier” CPPCC positions. Meanwhile, Zhang Xiaoming, the former director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and a mere 60 years old, has been formally removed from the CPPCC.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that the 7th meeting of the 14th National Committee of CPPCC concluded in Beijing on the morning of the 6th. The announcement following the meeting mentioned the addition of Ma Xiaowei, Yi Huiman, and Cao Jun as members of the 14th National Committee of CPPCC, with Yi Huiman serving as the deputy director of the Economic Committee, Ma Xiaowei as the deputy director of the Committee on Education, Science, Health, and Sports, and Cao Jun as the deputy director of the Committee on Education, Science, Health, and Sports.
Authorities stated that they accept Zhang Xiaoming’s “decision to resign as a member and standing committee member of the 14th CPPCC National Committee,” dismiss Guo Zhongwen from the position of deputy director of the National Ethnic and Religious Committee of the 14th CPPCC, and revoke his membership. The decision to withdraw the membership of Tang Yijun and others from the 14th CPPCC National Committee has also been recognized.
Tang Yijun, the former Minister of Justice of the Chinese Communist Party, was investigated while serving as the chairman of the Jiangxi CPPCC on April 2, this year. On April 29, Tang Yijun’s membership of the 14th National CPPCC Committee was revoked. Guo Zhongwen, the former director of the General Administration of Sports of the Chinese Communist Party, fell from power on May 30.
Ma Xiaowei and Yi Huiman, who have joined the CPPCC, are both members of the 20th Central Committee. Both have been surrounded by negative rumors.
Ma Xiaowei was relieved of his position as the head of the Communist Party health committee at the beginning of May. Last year, there were rumors that he was taken from the VIP ward of Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Yi Huiman was relieved of his position as chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party on February 7. There were online rumors that “Zhuyongguo, a shareholder of the delisted A-share company Kangde Xin, reported to the authorities that Yi Huiman, former chairman of the Securities Regulatory Commission, was suspected of embezzlement.”
As for Zhang Xiaoming, he was announced to be relieved of his duties as deputy secretary general of the National CPPCC on March 2.
Zhang Xiaoming is from Taixing, Jiangsu. He started working in the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office in 1986 and served as deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office from 2004 to 2012. In 2012, he became the director of the Hong Kong Liaison Office, taking over from the retired Wang Guangya as the director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office until 2017.
After the anti-extradition movement in 2020, Xia Baolong took over the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, and Zhang Xiaoming was “demoted” to the deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, still holding the rank of a department-level official and responsible for daily work. In June 2022, Zhang Xiaoming became the deputy secretary general of the National CPPCC until he was removed from office this time.
At only 60 years old, Zhang Xiaoming was completely ousted from the CPPCC after serving as deputy secretary general for two years, and the reason remains unclear.
However, on July 20, 2023, the “China Briefing” reported that Phoenix TV host Fu Xiaotian was found to have special relationships with several senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party, including Zhang Xiaoming, the former director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office. At the time, there were widespread rumors that the former Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qin Gang, had an affair with Fu Xiaotian and fathered a child, prompting an investigation by authorities.
The report stated that Zhang Xiaoming personally pressured Phoenix TV’s leader Liu Changle to give Fu Xiaotian a special position at Phoenix TV, even displacing experienced media personnel with business capabilities.