Former Jilin Provincial Party Secretary Jing Junhai, who has long been regarded as a political confidant of Xi Jinping and was previously involved in expanding the tomb and building the mausoleum for Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, in Shaanxi, was recently unexpectedly announced to retire from the frontline, sparking speculation.
According to a report from Xinhua News Agency of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the 14th Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress concluded its meeting on the morning of the 13th at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It was announced after the meeting that Jing Junhai was appointed as the Deputy Director of the National People’s Congress Education, Science, Culture, and Health Committee.
Public records show that Jing Junhai, born in December 1960, has served as a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee, Deputy Minister of the Central Propaganda Department, Deputy Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, and Governor. In 2020, he became the Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee and was elected as a member of the 20th Central Committee. He has not reached the retirement age of 65 for officials at ministerial level.
In June of this year, Huang Qiang, a former Governor of Sichuan Province, succeeded Jing Junhai as the Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee.
The day after the Political Bureau meeting ended on June 28th, Xinhua News Agency of the CCP announced that Jing Junhai “no longer holds the positions of Secretary, Standing Committee Member, or Member of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, with other appointments.”
An article by senior commentator Gao Xin, published on September 16th by Radio Free Asia, pointed out that the so-called “second-line” positions in all levels of the CCP’s officialdom have a distinction between positions with actual power and those without. For instance, leading a provincial Political Consultative Conference, being the director of a specialized committee in the National People’s Congress or the National Political Consultative Conference, can all be considered as actual “second-line” positions because they involve tangible work responsibilities. However, if a Governor, Minister, or Provincial Party Secretary is assigned as the Deputy Director of a specialized committee in the National People’s Congress or the National Political Consultative Conference, but is not required to attend meetings, it is essentially equivalent to retirement.
The article further elaborated that if Jing Junhai’s “new position” remains undisclosed for a prolonged period, there are only two possibilities in the future: either being arranged to retire early to the second line or being announced to be “under investigation.”
Jing Junhai is considered to be part of the “Shaanxi Army” within Xi Jinping’s faction and has worked in Shaanxi for a long time. During his tenure as the head of the Shaanxi Provincial Propaganda Department, he orchestrated and promoted the expansion of Xi Zhongxun’s tomb into a mausoleum. Records show that the Xi Zhongxun mausoleum covers an area of over ten mu, while the entire ecological park covers nearly 400 mu, and the project was completed in two phases.
The now-closed Da Wei Xuan Multi-Dimensional website previously published an article in 2014 about a journalist’s visit to Xi Zhongxun’s mausoleum, stating that it is located inside the Wenquan River Ecological Park. The layout of the mausoleum, facing northwest and southeast, carries political symbolism, and great attention has been paid to feng shui, with the landscape planning and maintenance in the ecological park demonstrating meticulous care.
The second phase of the expansion project of Xi Zhongxun’s mausoleum was completed in mid-2015. Shortly after the project was completed, Jing Junhai was appointed as the Deputy Minister of the Central Propaganda Department by the CCP Central Organization Department.
Gao Xin’s aforementioned article also mentioned that Jing Junhai had quite a few scandals circulating online in the past, including his son being involved in questionable activities and, similar to former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, being implicated in similar “mistakes,” involving not only affairs with high-level female “journalists” but also causing a loss of “life.”
He believes that if Jing Junhai did not “commit some mistake,” retiring at the age of 63 from the position of Provincial Party Secretary makes no sense either logically or emotionally.
A report by Caixin on September 13th on Jing Junhai’s retirement to the second line was titled “Jing Junhai, 63, Moves to the National People’s Congress, Formerly Served as Jilin Provincial Party Secretary.” The article began with the line “More than two months after stepping down as the Jilin Provincial Party Secretary, Jing Junhai’s new position has been announced,” and then quoted Jing Junhai’s cloying and tearful praise for Xi Jinping upon bidding farewell to the Jilin officials, stating, “I sincerely thank General Secretary Xi Jinping for his care and love.”
Gao Xin perceives this article as having a satirical effect, hinting at sarcasm and mockery.