Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping recently led a group of high-ranking officials from Beijing to Tibet, with official reports unexpectedly releasing signals that a Political Bureau member may be in trouble. Li Ganjie, who was reassigned from the Minister of Organization Department to the Minister of United Front Work Department a few months ago, had his activities in Tibet discovered to have been removed from party media bulletins. Rumors about Li Ganjie being investigated had surfaced before.
On August 24, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece People’s Daily featured a news article on the front page titled “Central Delegation Leaves Tibet and Returns to Beijing.” The report stated that the Central delegation, led by Wang Huning, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, concluded their activities in Tibet on August 23 and returned to Beijing. The article also introduced the delegation leader and various vice leaders who traveled to different locations in Tibet for various activities.
Contrasting with the previous report on August 23 in People’s Daily titled “Central Delegation Visits and Consoles Cadres and Masses of Various Ethnic Groups in Tibet,” the report on August 24 deleted all content related to the vice leader mentioned in the August 23 report, Li Ganjie, Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, leading the team to Ali.
Removing a Central Committee member from official media platforms in the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda system is not a minor matter. Political commentator Mr. Zhang Tianliang stated in his self-media program, “This conveys a very significant signal, that Li Ganjie is in trouble.”
Li Ganjie, born in 1964 in Wangcheng, Hunan, graduated from Tsinghua University. He and former Minister of Organization Department, current President of the Central Party School Chen Xi are classified as part of Xi Jinping’s Tsinghua faction. Li Ganjie had previously served as Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Acting Governor, and Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee in his old-fashioned, Shandong, Peng Liyuan’s hometown. Two years later, he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and became Chen Xi’s successor.
After the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Ganjie took over as Minister of the Organization Department at the end of April 2023. However, on April 2, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party officially confirmed that Political Bureau members Shi Taifeng and Li Ganjie had swapped positions, with Shi Taifeng becoming the Minister of the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party, and Li Ganjie becoming the Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
Given that Li Ganjie served less than two years as Minister of the Organization Department, there were speculations about behind-the-scenes maneuvering. After Shi Taifeng took over as Minister of the Organization Department, he quickly took on the role of Deputy Leader of the Central Party’s Construction Leading Group, a position Li Ganjie did not hold while serving as Minister of the Organization Department, which raised eyebrows.
There were many abnormal movements before and after Li Ganjie’s job transfer, especially with high-ranking officials from his hometown in Hunan falling one after another, casting a shadow over Li Ganjie’s career.
Less than two weeks after Li Ganjie’s job transfer, on April 12, 2025, Jin Xiangjun, Deputy Secretary of the Shanxi Provincial Party Committee and Governor, was investigated. Jin Xiangjun hails from Jianghua, Yongzhou, Hunan.
Anti-Communist influencer based in Australia, Edwin Chiang, leaked information on April 11 through his X platform account (@EdwinHChiang) that Jin Xiangjun was under investigation. He later claimed on April 13 that Jin Xiangjun fell from grace due to his attempt, through Li Ganjie’s connections, to become the Secretary of the Party Committee of Inner Mongolia after failing to secure positions as Deputy Secretary and Governor of Zhejiang. Jin’s wife and Li Ganjie’s wife allegedly engaged in corrupt practices such as selling official positions and titles.
In June of this year, Edwin Chiang previously leaked news of Li Ganjie being investigated, but Li Ganjie continued to appear in public as usual.