After the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, several close associates of the CCP leader Xi Jinping have fallen one after another. Qin Gang from the Foreign Ministry and Miao Hua from the military have been removed from their positions. Chen Min’er, previously seen as Xi’s potential successor, has recently come under scrutiny for the corruption scandal involving big data in Guizhou.
According to official CCP reports, since last year, a widespread corruption scandal has rocked the big data sector in Guizhou, an area that Xi Jinping once praised. Several officials including the first two directors of the Guizhou Big Data Development Management Bureau, multiple executives of state-owned big data enterprises, as well as four successive mayors of Guiyang, the deputy mayor in charge of big data in Guiyang, the top leaders of the Gui’an New District, have all been taken down.
Among them, Liu Lan, the fourth-ranking official in the Guiyang municipal government responsible for big data work, was ousted on February 26 while still in office. Jing Yaping, the former director of the Guizhou Big Data Development Management Bureau who had retired four months prior, was officially removed on February 24. Yang Yunyong, a member of the Guizhou Provincial Political Consultative Conference and the general manager of the Guizhou Province Algorithm Technology Company, was taken down on April 3. Ma Ningyu, the former mayor of Guiyang, was arrested on August 6, 2024. He was the first director of the Guizhou Big Data Development Management Bureau.
Jing Yaping, who served as Ma Ningyu’s deputy in the Guizhou Big Data Development Management Bureau from 2016 to 2019, took over as director in 2021.
The big data initiative in Guizhou was regarded as a “political achievement project” by Xi Jinping’s close ally, Chen Min’er, after he took office in Guizhou.
In February 2012, Chen Min’er was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the CCP, becoming the third-highest ranking figure in Guizhou after the Provincial Secretary Li Zhanxu and the Governor Zhao Kezhi. In January 2013, he was elected as the Governor of Guizhou Province, reaching the level of a ministerial rank. On July 31, 2015, Chen Min’er succeeded Zhao Kezhi, who had been transferred to Hebei Province, as the Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee. He was re-elected on April 20, 2017, before being reassigned to Chongqing on July 15, 2017.
During his five-year term in Guizhou, Chen Min’er actively promoted big data. In 2014, Guizhou established a leading group for the development of the big data industry, with Chen Min’er serving as the group’s leader when he was the Provincial Governor.
Ma Ningyu also gained prominence during Chen Min’er’s tenure as Governor and Secretary in Guizhou. From 2014 to 2016, Ma Ningyu held positions in the Guizhou Economic and Information Committee and the Provincial Military Industry Committee. In 2016, Guizhou was approved to establish the country’s first national big data comprehensive test zone by the CCP. In February 2017, the Guizhou Province Public Service Management Office was renamed the Guizhou Province Big Data Development Management Bureau, becoming the country’s first provincial-level big data bureau, with Ma Ningyu, then Vice Secretary-General of the Provincial Government, also serving as the first Director.
Xi Jinping participated in the review of the Guizhou delegation during the National People’s Congress in 2014, endorsing Guizhou’s efforts in the big data sector. When he visited Guiyang in June 2015, Xi conducted research at the Guiyang Big Data Application Exhibition Center, stating that “Guizhou’s development of big data is indeed reasonable.”
Interestingly, after the exposure of the corruption in Guizhou’s big data industry, Xi Jinping conducted research visits to Qiandongnan Prefecture and Guiyang City for two days in March of this year, marking his third visit to Guizhou since the 18th National Congress of the CCP in 2012. However, unlike the previous two visits, he did not focus on the big data industry during this trip, and the duration was shortened from three days to two.
Commentator Li Linyi pointed out that the widespread corruption in the big data sector of Guizhou demonstrates that Chen Min’er’s touted achievements have come to naught, directly challenging Xi Jinping, who has been criticized as the “Emperor of Unfinished Projects.” Therefore, Xi may be reluctant to conduct further inspections.
After leaving Guizhou, Chen Min’er served as the leader of Chongqing from July 2017 to December 2022, and was appointed to the Political Bureau. He was once considered a potential member of the Politburo Standing Committee and even rumoured as one of Xi’s potential successors. However, he did not become a member of the Politburo at the 20th National Congress, only being reassigned as the Secretary of Tianjin Municipal Committee.
Li Linyi believes that Chen Min’er may not be immediately affected by the corruption case in Guizhou as the authorities may have found a scapegoat in Sun Zhigang, but this incident could sow seeds of trouble for Chen Min’er within Xi’s camp. This event could further impact Xi Jinping’s authority and potentially be utilized by anti-Xi forces.
Following Chen Min’er’s departure from Guizhou, the big data industry in Guizhou has been overseen by his successors Sun Zhigang and Chen Yiqin. Sun Zhigang replaced Chen Min’er as the Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Committee in 2017 and stepped down from his position in November 2020. In October last year, he was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve for accepting over 813 million yuan in bribes.
In an official anti-corruption documentary produced in Guizhou, it was revealed that in May 2016, the then-Secretary-General of the Guiyang City Government, An Jiuxiong, carefully arranged for Sun Zhigang’s wife to attend the China International Big Data Industry Expo held in Guiyang and personally provided reception services. The disciplinary inspection committee’s anti-corruption documentary also indicated that Sun Zhigang’s wife, children, and brothers acted as his “collection agents.”