China's official media reported on September 30 that 52-year old Sun Lijun, a former Chinese Vice
Minister of the Public Security Bureau, has been sacked and expelled from the Communist Party,
and will face trial for “serious violation of discipline rules and law”. Xinhua quoted the Central
Discipline Inspection Commission as saying that “[Sun] has never had any real faith or ideals ...
He harboured hugely inflated political ambitions, and was of extremely bad political quality. To
achieve his political objectives ... [he] resorted to whatever means ... forming gangs and factions,
seizing control of key [security] departments, seriously undermining the unity of the party, and
causing extreme danger to the political security [of the party].” It added that Sun Lijun “had
secretly possessed a large amount of confidential materials, and engaged in superstitious activities
for a long time” [For a long period of time, Sun] lived a decadent life, accepting huge amounts of
bribes and expensive gifts ... [He] is a man with no morals, trading power for money and sex.” The
report said Sun Lijun was under investigation for 17 months from April last year, resisted the
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investigation and “did not explain [his] problems truthfully” to the investigators. The CDIC said
“After deliberation, the CCDI Standing Committee ... decided to expel Sun Lijun from the party,
and he is dismissed from his official position. His case has been transferred to prosecutors who
will arrange for a trial in accordance with the law.”
(Comment: Sun Lijun was the deputy head of a high-level team sent by Beijing to Wuhan, Hubei
province in February 2020 to help contain the Covid-19 outbreak.)
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