On October 3, 2024, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Communist Party of China caught another deputy minister-level “mole”. On the evening of September 30, Li Gang, head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission stationed at the Organization Department of the CCP Central Committee, was taken down. On October 2, the Organization Department of the CCP made a rare statement expressing “firm support for the central decision”. Analysts believe that Li Gang’s downfall is the result of power struggles between Li Xi of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Li Ganjie of the Organization Department, with the latter clearly losing ground, and Chen Xi, who operates behind Li Ganjie, also taking a blow.
The CCP’s Organization Department issued an article on October 2 stating that on the evening of September 30, a departmental meeting was held to convey the decision of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission on the investigation of Li Gang, emphasizing that the participants “firmly support the decision of the Party Central Committee”, maintaining a high degree of unity with Xi Jinping’s leadership, and so on.
The Organization Department also emphasized the resolute prevention of “corruption in the dark” and vowed to be at the forefront of the so-called “two safeguards” first line.
Public records show that Li Gang, who was recently taken down, was born in July 1965 in Dayi County, Sichuan Province, and had worked in Sichuan Province for 38 years, serving as director of the Investment Attraction Bureau of Sichuan Province, Secretary of the Bazhong Municipal Committee, Director of the Development and Reform Commission of Sichuan Province, Deputy Governor of Sichuan Province. In 2021, he was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Yunnan Provincial Party Committee and Minister of Organization.
In November 2022, Li Gang expressed political loyalty to the top leadership of the CCP in an article published in the CCP’s “Organizational Personnel News”. In September 2023, Li Gang took up a position in Beijing. On October 20 of the same year, the CCP held a national civil servant work symposium in Beijing, where Li Gang was seen sitting between Huang Jianfa, Deputy Minister of the Organization Department, and Sun Xiaofang, Deputy Secretary-General of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, in the seating arrangement of central government agencies.
In January 2024, official information indicated that Li Gang was already serving as the head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission stationed at the Organization Department.
Evidently, between September 2023 and January 2024, Li Gang worked in a senior position at the Organization Department, though his specific role was unclear, before taking up the official position at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission stationed at the Organization Department.
Within the CCP system, the disciplinary inspection and supervision team stationed in a ministry is accountable to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. Multiple mainland media reports attribute Li Gang’s downfall to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection targeting a deputy minister-level “mole”.
However, despite being associated with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, media outlets like Caixin stressed that he was actually working in the Organization Department.
Since Xi Jinping came to power, the head of the Organization Department in his first term was Zhao Leji, while Chen Xi, Xi’s university classmate, controlled the Organization Department as the deputy director. In Xi’s second term, Chen Xi served as the head of the Organization Department, and after resigning as a member of the Central Committee in 2022, the role of the head of the Organization Department was handed over to Li Ganjie, also a graduate of Tsinghua University, until April 2023, when Chen Xi became the current president of the Central Party School.
Commentator Jin Tao commented on “Watching China” website that the Organization Department hastily convened a meeting on September 30, whose information was reported two days later on October 2. Furthermore, as Li Gang was originally sent by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission to investigate “mole” cases, the situation turned into an endorsement by Li Ganjie’s Organization Department, creating a strange and dramatic scenario.
Jin Tao suggested that this was a result of internal conflict within Xi Jinping’s faction, with Li Xi, a national level official, controlling the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Li Ganjie, a vice national level official, managing the Organization Department. The Organization Department ended up losing this showdown. “Is this Li Xi taking the blame or the Organization Department meddling in personnel matters of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection? This is worth pondering.”
He believed that Li Gang’s downfall appears to be a result of power struggles between the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department. Li Xi can represent the Party Central Committee, while Chen Xi behind Li Ganjie also received a blow.
However, Jin Tao noted that the Organization Department emphasized “resolutely preventing ‘corruption in the dark'” and reiterated the concept of the “two safeguards”, indicating their readiness to position themselves as the vanguard of safeguarding Xi, leaving the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection far behind, considering that promotions of some officials in the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection also require approval from the Organization Department.
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi told the Epoch Times that the disciplinary inspection and supervision team stationed in a department is accountable to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, but the officials stationed there often need to communicate with the department’s leaders to carry out their work. There is likely a relationship of coordination and interaction between them.
Li Linyi believes that in the case at hand, the Organization Department made a statement in the capacity of Li Gang’s working unit, indicating that Li Gang was likely taken down for political reasons. The local party organization collectively distancing themselves from him in a statement can be seen as a self-protective move.