China’s Communist Party Expels Former Agriculture Minister, Citing Corruption

Security guards stand at an entrance to the Great Hall of the People during the sixth plenary session of China's rubber-stamp legislature, the National People's Congress, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 18, 2018. Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expelled former Agriculture Minister Tang Renjian, state-run media reported on Nov. 15, following months of investigation under CCP leader Xi Jinping’s so-called anti-corruption campaign.

Tang was removed from his post as minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and placed under investigation, along with several other high-ranking officials, in mid-May.

State media reported that Tang had allegedly accepted bribes and used his authority to benefit relatives.

“Tang Renjian lost his ideals and beliefs and abandoned his original mission,” state broadcaster CCTV alleged.

Beijing appointed veteran official Han Jun as the new head of the ministry in September.

Tang was also the governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020, according to official biographies.

The anti-corruption campaign, launched in 2012, is a core part of Xi’s rule, but experts say it has more to do with removing potential threats to the CCP leader’s authority than addressing actual corruption.

A former CCP official previously told the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times that the waves of anti-corruption investigations were also related to setting monetary quotas for local governments.

Du Wen, the former executive director of Inner Mongolia’s legal department, no longer resides in China but has former colleagues in the region’s Discipline Inspection Commission. Following the wave of anti-corruption initiatives that led to the removal of officials in May, he told the publication that his colleague reported a revenue target of 10 billion yuan (about $1.4 billion).

“Initially, there was uncertainty, but they met the annual target within three months. By September, they had already confiscated 30 billion yuan [$4.23 billion],” Du said. “These targets are real; I only learned about them last year.”

Du said that the CCP is a system built on corruption and that these investigations do nothing to remedy the widespread corruption that he said exists.

“It’s like a tree that bears bitter fruit; removing a few pieces won’t make it produce sweet fruit,” he said.

Beginning in April, anti-corruption investigators began probing several officials with positions in agriculture-related departments, and analysts told The Epoch Times at the time that this was likely related to the CCP’s desire to change the narrative on worsening food security.

Tang was the highest-ranking official among those who were purged. He spent decades in agriculture-related government positions and was elevated to minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2020. In this role, he focused on advancing the use of genetically modified crops to boost domestic food production.

China’s high dependence on imports for its food supply is a key strategic weakness, analysts said. China relies heavily on the United States, Australia, Canada, Ukraine, and Brazil for food imports.

“Once a certain department becomes the target of an inspection, a group of senior officials will often get into trouble,” Wang Juntao, a U.S.-based Chinese dissident and chairman of the China Democracy Party, told The Epoch Times in May.

Wang said that the focus on agriculture-related departments may have also been linked to intensified conflicts between the public and law enforcement in rural areas. He cited an increase in police brutality in the food-growing countryside, with cases of law enforcement depriving farmers of livestock or destroying crops and trees.

Mary Hong, Shawn Lin, Lynn Xu, Jessica Mao, and Reuters contributed to this report.