Former Deputy Minister Du Yubo of the Chinese Ministry of Education was reported to be under investigation today, September 18th. Du Yubo had previously held positions at two universities with military backgrounds.
According to Xinhua News Agency on September 18th, Du Yubo, the former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Minister of the Chinese Ministry of Education, is being investigated for “serious violations of discipline and law” by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party.
Reported by “Chang’an Street Insight” on the WeChat account of Beijing Daily, Du Yubo’s last public activity was hosting a symposium of the Chinese Higher Education Society on August 1st. In addition, a newspaper published an article under his name on August 6th.
Public records show that Du Yubo, born in September 1955 in Jinzhou, Hebei Province, had long served at Beijing Institute of Technology. He held various positions there, such as Secretary of the Party General Branch, Minister of the Party Committee Organization Department, member of the Party Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, and Vice President. From 2002 to 2010, he served as Secretary of the Party Committee (deputy minister level) at Beihang University, and from 2010 to 2011, he was Deputy Minister and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Education concurrently serving as Secretary of the Party Committee at Beihang University. From 2011 to 2016, he was Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Education. From 2018 to 2023, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress and Vice Chairman of the Education, Science, Culture, and Health Committee of the National People’s Congress.
Du Yubo also held positions such as Vice Chairman of the National Party Construction Research Association of the Communist Party of China, Vice Chairman of the Party History Society of the Communist Party of China, Vice Chairman of the Beijing University Party Construction Research Association, and Vice Chairman of the China National Defense Science and Technology Industry Association.
Both Beijing Institute of Technology and Beihang University, where Du Yubo worked, have military backgrounds and are part of the so-called “National Defense Seven Sons” designated by the Chinese Communist Party.
The “National Defense Seven Sons” refers to seven schools under the former Chinese National Defense Science and Industry Commission (now the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology), including Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Harbin Engineering University, and Nanjing University of Science and Technology. These schools directly serve the Chinese Communist Party’s military industry and are all included on the U.S. Entity List, requiring approval from U.S. authorities for importing products from American companies.