On June 17th, former Vice Secretary of the Communist Party of China in Xinjiang Li Pengxin, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee in Heilongjiang Wang Yixin, and former Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Discipline Inspection Commission Chen Yuxiang were expelled from the party. Li Pengxin was accused of cultivating personal influence, engaging in serious corruption, while Wang Yixin was accused of associating with political fraudsters.
According to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Li Pengxin, former Deputy Secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Party Committee, was expelled from the party for illegally acquiring assets obtained through violations of discipline and law.
Li Pengxin was charged with cultivating personal influence, engaging in “seven improper behaviors,” failing to truthfully address issues, selling official positions, long-term illicitly accepting gifts and money, exhibiting greed and corruption, and engaging in collusion between politics and business, promoting new forms of corruption by using his position for personal gain in mineral development, business operations, and the selection and appointment of cadres, as well as unlawfully accepting significant amounts of stocks and shares.
The “seven improper behaviors” refer to the sins outlined by Xi Jinping during the Second Plenary Session of the Fourth Plenum of the 18th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, including favoritism, exclusion of dissenting voices, forming cliques, spreading rumors, buying votes, engaging in privilege-seeking, acting patronizingly, and undermining the central authority.
64-year-old Li Pengxin, originally from Shenchixian, Shanxi Province, had previously served in Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, holding positions in the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee and Organization Department, before being transferred to Xinjiang in 2016. Li Pengxin’s representative status was terminated by the Xinjiang People’s Congress Standing Committee in January 2022. He was investigated in December 2023.
Li Pengxin had a close relationship with the current member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhao Leji. Commentator Cai Shenkun once mentioned on Platform X that Li Pengxin was promoted by Zhao Leji in Qinghai and had risen through the ranks during Zhao Leji’s tenure as Secretary of the Qinghai Provincial Party Committee from 2003 to 2007.
Another individual expelled on June 17th was former Deputy Secretary of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of the provincial government, and former Deputy Governor Wang Yixin.
Wang Yixin was accused of associating with political swindlers, obstructing inspection, concealing his family’s real estate assets, engaging in corrupt practices for personal gain, involving in power and monetary transactions, moral decay, and unlawfully accepting substantial sums of money.
Wang Yixin, born in December 1965 in Yingshan, Hubei Province, held important positions in Hainan, Shanxi, and Heilongjiang. He was appointed as Deputy Governor of Heilongjiang in December 2021 and later became a member of the Heilongjiang Provincial Party Committee in March 2022.
Additionally, former Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and former Deputy Director of the Provincial Supervision Commission, Chen Yuxiang, was also expelled from the party on June 17th.
Chen Yuxiang was accused of indulging in luxurious dining and entertainment, frequently accepting banquets, using his position to benefit specific individuals, engaging in unethical activities, involvement in power and monetary transactions, and unlawfully receiving substantial amounts of money.
58-year-old Chen Yuxiang, originally from Linxi, Hebei, had a long tenure in the Hebei Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission. He served as a Standing Committee member of the Xingtai Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, as well as the Director of the Supervision Commission, and later as a Standing Committee member of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission, and Director of the Supervision Commission. Chen Yuxiang had been serving as the Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and concurrently as a Standing Committee member of the Shijiazhuang Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission until he was investigated.
Prior to Chen Yuxiang’s investigation, in July 2021, Ma Yuchan, former Deputy Secretary of the Hebei Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission and former director of the 610 Office, retired for two years, was investigated. On January 22, 2022, Ma Yuchan was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and had his retirement benefits revoked.