China removes Ling Jihua, ex-Hu Jintao aide, from Communist Party's United Front Work Department job
China’s Communist Party has officially removed Ling Jihua from his job as head of the party’s United Front Work Department and replaced him with Sun Chunlan, current party chief of Tianjin.
China’s Communist Party has officially removed Ling Jihua from his job as head of the party’s United Front Work Department, the state news agency Xinhua reported today.
He will be replaced in the post by Sun Chunlan, the current party chief of Tianjin. Sun, 64, is a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo. She was appointed party secretary of Tianjin in 2012 and was the only female provincial-level party chief in China.
Ling 58, is the latest “big tiger” to be targeted by President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, although it is unclear if more senior figures are to be pursued.
The one-time top aide of former president Hu Jintao is likely to face the same fate as disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, who was jailed for life for corruption and abuse of power, mainland analysts said.
Chinese media also reported today that China has promoted Nur Bekri, the ethnic Uygur governor of the troubled far western region of Xinjiang, to a top role with the country’s energy policy body. But it left it unclear who would replace him.
Bekri will become director of the National Energy Administration, and also a deputy head of the planning body the National Development and Reform Commission, the respected business magazine Caixin said on its website.
