On Sunday night (21st), Gao Peng, a member of the Communist Party of China and Deputy Mayor of the Beijing Municipal Government, was announced to be under investigation by the authorities for “serious violations of discipline and law.” He is the first deputy-ministerial-level official in Beijing to fall from grace since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and was in charge of the important department, the “Tiananmen District Management Committee.”
In the evening of April 21st, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission publicly disclosed the news of Gao Peng’s downfall, stating that he is currently undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.
Public information shows that Gao Peng was born in 1972 and is a member of the Communist Party of China. Gao Peng has worked in Beijing for a long time, having worked in state-owned enterprises for many years before joining the government. He has held positions such as Deputy District Mayor of Fengtai District, Deputy Director of the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission, District Mayor of Shunyi District, and District Party Secretary.
In January 2023, Gao Peng was promoted to Deputy Mayor of Beijing, reaching the deputy-ministerial level. However, just over a year into his tenure as Deputy Mayor, he fell from grace.
Currently, Gao Peng’s personal information has been removed from the official website of the Beijing Municipal Government.
According to public information, Gao Peng was responsible for urban management, transportation, agriculture, rural affairs, and assisting in emergency management work. He was in charge of the Beijing City Urban Administration Committee, the Beijing City Transportation Committee, the Beijing City Agriculture and Rural Bureau, the Beijing City Key Station Area Management Committee, the Beijing City Academy of Forestry and Agriculture, and notably, the “Tiananmen District Management Committee.”
Gao Peng’s last appearance in public reports was at the beginning of this month. According to the Beijing Daily’s report on April 5th, on the eve of the Qingming Festival, Gao Peng and other leaders of the Beijing Municipal Committee visited the Beijing Qingming Command Center to monitor the situation of key cemeteries in the city through the surveillance screen.
It is worth mentioning that in the early hours of March 10th this year, during the CPPCC and NPC sessions, there was tight security in Beijing. An unidentified individual drove a car to crash into the front gate of Zhongnanhai (Xinhua Gate). The related videos sparked heated discussions. As the person in charge of the Tiananmen District Management Committee, it is unclear if Gao Peng bears any responsibility for this incident.
So far this year, the number of centrally-administered officials investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China has increased to 22 people. Gao Peng is also the sixth centrally-administered official being investigated in April this year.
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