The Chinese Communist Party’s Discipline Inspection Commission recently reported on a 16.5 billion yuan unfinished project in Gongcheng County, Guilin, Guangxi, stating that the local government’s blind decision-making led to idle wastage. Local official Deng Xiaoqiang involved in the project has been removed from his position. Analysts believe that the unfinished project was initiated during the tenure of Zhao Leqin, the brother of the current Chairman of the National People’s Congress, Zhao Leji, in Guilin. Deng Xiaoqiang, who was promoted by Zhao Leqin, is seen as a pawn in the power struggle between Li Xi, who heads the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and Zhao Leji.
On July 14, the website of the Chinese Communist Party’s Discipline Inspection Commission and the National Supervision Commission announced three typical cases of combating formalism, one of which involved Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County in Guilin, Guangxi, being criticized for “deviating from reality and making blind decisions on the construction of cultural tourism projects, resulting in idle wastage.”
It is reported that in 2018, Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County forcibly promoted the construction of the Yao-Han Longevity City cultural tourism project covering an area of approximately 140 acres. The project had a planned total investment of 16.5 billion yuan, with actual investments reaching 5.4 billion yuan. Due to funding disruptions, some parts of the project were left unfinished and halted, with six out of 11 completed buildings remaining idle.
According to official information, Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County is located in the southeast of Guilin City, covering a total area of 2,139 square kilometers with a population of 300,000. By 2024, the total regional GDP of the county had reached 11.071 billion yuan. The Yao-Han Longevity City project is situated in the Gongcheng High-speed Rail Economic Industrial Park, along the Bei Dongyuan River, planned as a healthy tourist project under the guidance of Deng Xiaoqiang during his tenure.
Deng Xiaoqiang, born in January 1965 in Yongzhou, Hunan, previously held various positions such as County Governor of Xing’an County in Guilin, Deputy Minister of the United Front Work Department of the Guilin Municipal Committee, Deputy Secretary-General of the Guilin Municipal Government, and Director of the Municipal Government Development Research Center. In November 2011, he became the Director and Party Secretary of the Guilin City Health Bureau. In December 2014, he was appointed as the Director and Deputy Party Secretary of the Guilin City Health and Family Planning Commission. In May 2016, he became the Party Secretary of Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County and a first-level researcher. After September 2020, he was promoted to a second-level inspector. He was investigated on July 27, 2022.
It is noteworthy that the initiation of the Yao-Han Longevity City project coincided with Zhao Leqin’s leadership in Guilin, and Deng Xiaoqiang was one of the persons promoted by him. Zhao Leqin, born in Xi’an, Shaanxi in 1960, served as the Secretary of the Guilin Municipal Party Committee and the Chairman of the Municipal People’s Congress from 2013 to 2018. Starting from 2018, he became the Vice Chairman of the Guangxi People’s Congress while remaining the Secretary of the Guilin Municipal Party Committee until he stepped down in February 2021 and retired as the Vice Chairman of the Guangxi People’s Congress in January 2023.
Commentator Li Linyi analyzed for Epoch Times, stating that during Zhao Leqin’s tenure, Deng Xiaojian was promoted from the health system to the County Party Secretary, and his continued elevation until 2020 indicates he was a close ally cultivated by Zhao Leqin. The massive investment in the Yao-Han Longevity City project would have required Zhao Leqin’s approval, and the entire project from initiation to abandonment fell within Zhao Leqin’s tenure, making it difficult for him to absolve responsibility. The report by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection under Li Xi seems to be a subtle strike against Zhao Leji just before the Beidaihe Conference, heightening the power struggle within the top echelons of the Chinese Communist Party.
On July 14, 2025, Han Song, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xi’an Municipal People’s Congress, was removed from office. Zhang Tianfeng, former Party member and Deputy Director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration, was expelled from the Party. Luo Yulin, a former deputy ministerial level official of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, received a suspended death sentence or life imprisonment.
Commentator Li Yanming remarked in Epoch Times that Han Song had led the Xi’an International Port Area for nine years, a key “political achievement project” during Zhao Leji’s leadership in Shaanxi. Zhang Tianfeng was an old comrade from the tobacco system during Zhao Leji’s tenure in Shaanxi. Luo Yulin was a trusted old comrade from Zhao Leji’s time in Qinghai. The simultaneous investigations and penalties imposed on the three former provincial-level officials around the sensitive period before the Beidaihe Conference and the Fourth Plenary Session suggest that Zhao Leji may have become a focal point in the high-level power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party.