“The Great Cleansing in Full Swing: High-ranking Officials in Beidaihe Lying Low?”

Hello everyone, welcome to “News Talk”, I’m Fu Yao.

Today’s guests are China expert and host of “Henghe Commentary”, Henghe; current affairs commentator and senior political and economic expert Qin Peng; Dr. Lin Xiaoxu, member of the US Committee on Dealing with the Current Crisis of the Chinese Communist Party and former virology researcher at the US Army Research Institute.

Today’s focus: Mysterious Beidaihe Conference – Senior Chinese officials reprimand Xi again? Cai Qi leads the trend of “lying flat”; Is Jiang Mianheng in trouble? Several high-ranking officials in the telecommunications kingdom are under investigation, a major cleanup is underway, and the Jiang family is facing challenges? Anthrax spreads in China, will there be a new outbreak of epidemic?

At this moment, the annual high-level Chinese Communist Party Beidaihe Conference is underway.

According to the party media CCTV report, entrusted by the CCP leader Xi Jinping, Cai Qi, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and Secretary of the Secretariat, visited experts who were on vacation in Beidaihe on August 3.

This is the second Beidaihe Conference of the current leadership after the 20th National Congress of the CCP. This year’s conference is quite different from last year’s.

Now let’s look at the main topics.

1. Henghe, there have been views pointing out that the Beidaihe Conference, once held annually, no longer exists and has become purely a vacation. Do you see this change? How do you interpret the different themes of the Beidaihe Conference after Xi Jinping’s third term as CCP leader?

2. Qin Peng, does this mean that there is only one path left for the senior CCP officials, which is to “lie flat”?

During last year’s “Beidaihe Conference,” Keizo Nawa, a commentator for Nikkei Asia, revealed that figures from the “Jiang faction” including the late former CCP leader Jiang Zemin’s top confidant Zeng Qinghong, former Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Chi Haotian representing the “military faction”, and former Politburo Standing Committee member Zhang Dejiang speaking for the “second generation reds”, jointly pressured CCP leader Xi Jinping on issues related to “national direction” and “military rectification.”

Since last year, there have been continuous purges within the military, with two former defense ministers, Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, expelled from the party on the same day.

Prior to the CCP’s so-called “Army Building Day” on July 31, both the Northern and Southern Theater Commands changed their commanders at the same time, making the atmosphere even more tense.

According to the notice released by the CCP’s discipline inspection commission, in the first half of 2024, 38 central government officials have been investigated, including 7 officials at the ministerial level.

3. Henghe, the atmosphere in the CCP’s military and political circles this year is worse than last year, and the economy is in a mess. However, at the same time, the dictatorship of the highest CCP power organ is even harsher than before. In this situation, do you anticipate that at this year’s Beidaihe Conference, the CCP leader will face questioning from the senior officials?

Another mysterious phenomenon is about the Jiang family.

Last year, including the vice chief engineer of China Mobile, the high-profile figures appeared in the CCP media’s report on the “Beidaihe Conference”, praising the CCP, but this year, companies such as China Mobile and China Unicom encountered unexpected situations during the “Beidaihe Conference.”

On July 30, the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced on its official website that Huo Haifeng, the former Party Secretary and General Manager of China Unicom’s Beijing branch, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is under investigation. Huo Haifeng has become the latest high-ranking executive to fall in China Unicom.

Since the end of last year, in addition to Huo Haifeng, three other executives of China Unicom have been ousted.

On December 19 last year, Deng Xuan, a former member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of China Unicom’s Shanghai branch, was investigated; on January 23 this year, Wang Yingpei, former General Manager of the Value-Added Services Department of China Unicom, was investigated; on February 8, Meng Xiangsen, member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of China Unicom’s Hainan branch, was investigated.

It has been reported that due to severe corruption in the industry and a continuous crackdown on senior executives, China Unicom has had to establish a three-tier discipline inspection and supervision mechanism, with more than 1,900 full-time discipline inspection personnel to strengthen self-examination.

In addition, senior executives of China Mobile are also being investigated one after another.

Both China Unicom and China Mobile are the domains of Jiang Zemin’s eldest son, Jiang Mianheng.

4. Qin Peng, what are the unknown secrets behind Jiang Mianheng’s “telecommunications empire”?

5. Henghe, the Jiang family has always advocated “getting rich in silence,” but recently, why is the authorities frequently dismantling the current “Jiang Mianheng-led” financial path of the Jiang family? Have they touched the CCP leader’s red line?

At the end of July, mainland China’s official website “The Paper” reported that many netizens in Shanghai claimed to have “sunned again.” Dr. Hu Yang, Director of the Respiratory Department at the Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, stated that since July, the number of CCP virus (COVID-19) patients in outpatient clinics has increased.

The Suzhou Disease Control also reported that there is a rising trend in CCP virus infections recently.

In mainland China, the epidemic has never really ended, and to make matters worse, there are reports of anthrax spreading in mainland China.

A case of “anthrax” was recently reported at a cattle farm in Yanggu County, Liaocheng City, Shandong Province, China. At present, the authorities have conducted a comprehensive investigation, sampling and testing of personnel who have been in contact with the sick livestock, and 5 contacts have been diagnosed with cutaneous anthrax.

This incident was first exposed by netizens on July 31, and two days later, it was officially reported by the mainland media.

On August 3, the Heilongjiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory on “anthrax,” claiming it was caused by accidental injuries from flood disasters. Subsequently, the Bayan County government website in Harbin also issued relevant tips.

6. Dr. Xiaoxu, what is your observation of the current anthrax situation in mainland China?

7. Qin Peng, some netizens have revealed that there are food safety issues in the Yanggu area, where some sick cows have been processed into beef buns and sold to consumers without their knowledge.

8. Henghe, the epidemic remains a mystery, anthrax is resurfacing, what advice do you have for the ordinary people in China?

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