Senior Official at CCP’s State-Owned Assets Watchdog Under Probe

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (left) walks with members of the new Standing Committee of the Party’s Political Bureau, (from 2nd left) Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Can Qi, Ding Xuexiang, and Li Xi as they arrive for a group photo with journalists at The Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on October 23, 2022. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Luo Yulin, a former senior member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) state-owned assets watchdog, is under probe, according to an official notice published on May 17.

Luo was a deputy ministerial-level official of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (or “State-owned Assets Commission”), and is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law.” The CCP’s central disciplinary committee made the announcement in a single sentence on its website on Wednesday. No further details were given.

Public records show that the nearly 65-year-old Luo had a long tenure in China’s northwestern Qinghai Province, serving as an executive deputy governor of the province, a member of the standing committee of the provincial CCP’s committee, and the director of the provincial state-owned assets commission, among other positions held since 1976.

The state-owned assets watchdog is responsible for “supervising maintenance and appreciation in state-owned asset value of the major large-sized state-owned enterprises (SOEs),” and is entitled to decide on the careers of the senior members of the supervised SOEs, according to the watchdog’s official website.

In late 2015, Luo left Qinghai Province and was appointed as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of State-Owned Key Large Enterprises, an entity that ceased to exist in 2018. Luo served as the head of the third inspection team sent out by the CCP’s party committee of the state-owned assets watchdog later in that year.

Luo is one of 20 high-ranking CCP officials to have been purged so far this year.

Xi Targets Opponents Via the Disciplinary Body: China Expert

CCP leader Xi Jinping has been using anti-graft campaigns to purge his political rivals, according to a China expert.

As early as February this year, not long before the CCP’s Two Sessions, Li Xi, secretary of the CCP’s top disciplinary body, said at a meeting that the disciplinary body would enforce further efforts to “educate and rectify” CCP officials. Li is regarded as a close ally of Xi’s, and has replaced Zhao Leji as head of the CCP’s top anti-graft apparatus.

China observer Li Yuanhua is a former professor at China’s Capital Normal University who now resides in Sydney, Australia. He said that Li Xi’s words indicated a forthcoming massive purging campaign to weed out Xi’s opponents.

“So-called education and rectification are used as a means by Xi to crack down on officials who disobey or show disloyalty to him. In addition, through disciplinary inspections, Xi expects to obtain public support,” Li told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times in an interview on February 26.

“There are corrupt officials everywhere within the CCP system, and conducting disciplinary inspections will undoubtedly uncover cases of corruption,” Li said. He said that this is why the CCP’s disciplinary watchdog is a convenient tool for Xi to fight his opposing factions.

Li added that Xi’s constant cracking down on CCP officials reveals Xi’s fear.

“Even though Xi gained absolute power by replacing all the members of the Politburo Standing Committee with his allies at the 20th national congress of the CCP, Xi can never have a moment of peace, as the CCP is an authoritarian regime,” Li said.

“The communist regime is not elected by the Chinese people. No matter who is in power, they won’t have peace of mind. They will be constantly suppressing political opponents, worrying about assassination attempts, and guarding against power usurpation. They live in perpetual unease. This is the destiny of all the past, current, and possibly future CCP leaders.”

The other 19 officials who have been under investigation by the top disciplinary body include high-ranking officials from the CCP’s party organizations, different levels of the government, the military, and large SOEs.