Recently, former anti-terrorism commissioner of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, Liu Yuejin, has been prosecuted, drawing attention to the fate of a group of alumni from Southwest University of Political Science and Law (now Southwest University of Political Science and Law, referred to as “Xizheng”). Among them, former Director of the Central Secrecy Bureau, Xia Yong, was expelled from Zhongnanhai by Xi Jinping for his involvement in the “lingzhi Project.”
Lawyer Gao Guangjun, who is currently practicing in the United States, graduated from the Criminal Investigation Department of Southwest University of Political Science and Law in 1983. His classmates and alumni from Xizheng include Yang Huanning, He Ting, Ma Jian, Chen Wenqing, and Liu Yuejin, who are former high-ranking officials in public security or national security. Among them, Yang Huanning and Liu Yuejin were his classmates.
According to Radio Free Asia column writer Gao Xin on October 4th, a large number of corrupt and abusive police officers have emerged from Xizheng. Liu Yuejin graduated from the Criminal Investigation Department of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, and a large number of high-ranking Chinese Communist Party officials from the 78th, 79th, and 80th classes of the university include Liu Yuejin and the aforementioned individuals, as well as former Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court Zhou Qiang and former Deputy Director of the State Council Legal Affairs Office Xia Yong.
Many of Liu Yuejin’s former classmates or alumni have also fallen from grace, including former Deputy Minister of the Ministry of National Security Ma Jian and former Director of the Chongqing Public Security Bureau He Ting. Yang Huanning was removed from his position as Director of the CCP’s General Administration of Security in 2017 and demoted to a non-leadership position at the deputy department level.
As for Xia Yong, he was purged due to his involvement in the “lingzhi Project.”
Xia Yong graduated from the Law Department of Southwest University of Political Science and Law in July 1982. He later stayed at the university as an assistant in the Department of Legal History, pursued a master’s degree in Foreign Legal History, and a doctoral degree from the Law Department of Peking University. He then worked as a visiting scholar at Harvard Law School and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.
Xia Yong transitioned from academia to politics, serving as the Deputy Director and Director of the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Director of the Institute of International Law, Secretary of the Joint Party Committee for the two institutes, Deputy Director of the Research Office of the Central Office, Director of the Office of the Central Secrecy Committee, and Director of the National Security Bureau. In March 2013, he was appointed as the Deputy Director of the State Council Legal Affairs Office, but was dismissed in July 2016 and had his CPPCC membership revoked for “serious violations of discipline.”
Gao Xin stated in the article that Xia Yong, who rose to the position of Director of the Central Secrecy Bureau during Hu Jintao’s era, was expelled from Zhongnanhai by Xi Jinping after cracking down on the “lingzhi Project.”
The “lingzhi Project” fell from grace on December 22, 2014, when it was arrested while serving as Vice Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Minister of the Central United Front Department, and on July 4, 2016, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of corruption, illegally obtaining state secrets, and abusing power.
Gao Xin disclosed that at the time, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection accused the “lingzhi Project” of “violating discipline and law to obtain a large amount of core Party and state secrets.” This was because after the “lingzhi Project” stepped down from the position of Director of the Central Office, his temporary replacement, Hawke, who remained in his position as head of the Secretariat, continued to execute his instructions and provided him with a batch of confidential documents he specifically requested. However, as the Director of the National Security Bureau, Xia Yong did not request Hawke to return the documents promptly.
Among Liu Yuejin’s notable alumni is the liberal intellectual He Weifang.
He Weifang was a student of the Law Department of Xizheng in 1978 and is also the senior of the current Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, Chen Wenqing, in the Law Department of Southwest University of Political Science and Law. Both are the same age, however, He Weifang belonged to the 1978 class, while Chen Wenqing belonged to the 1980 class.
Gao Xin noted that He Weifang entered university at the age of 18, indicating that he was a high school graduate of the year 1978. As for Chen Wenqing, he started working in July 1984, the same month he received his undergraduate diploma. Therefore, he entered Xizheng at the age of 20 as an unemployed youth.
Gao Xin explained that after Chen Wenqing and He Weifang left Xizheng, they took two completely different paths. He Weifang, who graduated first, obtained a master’s degree from the University of Politics and Law in Beijing (now Beijing University of Politics and Law), taught there, and later became a professor at the Law School of Peking University until being forcibly retired. On the other hand, Chen Wenqing worked as a household registration police officer in a grassroots police station in Sichuan for ten years, eventually rising to the rank of department-level official before being accepted by Xi Jinping as part of the team, eventually becoming the secret police leader entering the Political Bureau and the Central Secretariat.