{"id":1756,"date":"2014-06-23T03:12:47","date_gmt":"2014-06-23T03:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/?p=1756"},"modified":"2014-06-23T03:12:47","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T03:12:47","slug":"minitrue-connections-wont-shield-graft-probes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chinesepen.org\/english\/minitrue-connections-wont-shield-graft-probes","title":{"rendered":"Minitrue: \u201cConnections Won\u2019t Shield Graft Probes\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.<\/span><\/p>\n

All websites find and delete the article \u201cXinhua Commentary on Ling Zhengce\u2019s Fall: Even Connections to the Imperial Court Won\u2019t Save You.\u201d Implement immediately. (June 19, 2014)<\/p>\n

\u5168\u7f51\u67e5\u5220\u300a\u65b0\u534e\u793e\u8bc4\u4ee4\u653f\u7b56\u843d\u9a6c\uff1a\u671d\u91cc\u6709\u4eba\u4e5f\u4e0d\u7075\u300b\u4e00\u6587\uff0c\u7acb\u5373\u6267\u3002<\/p>\n

Amid the Xi administration\u2019s ongoing crackdown on official corruption, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced yesterday that Shanxi official Ling Zhengce, brother of a trusted aide to former president Hu Jintao, is now the subject of a fresh graft probe. The CCDI announcement also described a separate investigation into Ling\u2019s fellow Shanxi official Du Shanxue, vice-governor of the province. The South China Morning Post reports:<\/p>\n

The move underscores the widening crackdown against corrupt officials in coal-rich Shanxi province and suggests investigators could be closing in on Ling Jihua himself.<\/p>\n

[…] Ling Zhengce, 62, is one of the three elder brothers of Ling Jihua. His phone was switched off yesterday.<\/p>\n

[…] Zhang Ming, a professor of political science at Renmin University in Beijing, said Ling Zhengce\u2019s detention could be the prelude to an investigation into his younger brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe final outcome \u2026 remains unknown but so far Ling Jihua has been clearly targeted,\u201d Zhang said. \u201cNo one can survive the party\u2019s scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Shanxi native, Ling Jihua was said to be a founder of the so-called \u201cShanxi gang\u201d, including officials who worked their way up the ranks in the province. [Source]<\/p>\n

In 2012, top Hu Jintao aide Ling Jihua was scandalized and demoted after allegedly covering up the details of his son\u2019s death in a Ferrari crash. Following the release of news on the probe into Ling Zhengce, Party mouthpiece Xinhua News Agency posted commentary entitled \u201cEven Connections to the Imperial Court Can\u2019t Save You\u201d (\u671d\u91cc\u6709\u4eba\u4e5f\u4e0d\u7075, the title borrowed from an adage on the benefits of ties to higher-ups). The commentary was quickly deleted, but can be read via CDT Chinese. More coverage from the South China Morning Post describes Xinhua\u2019s now-deleted commentary:<\/p>\n

Not even \u201chaving an ally high up in Beijing would help\u201d, Xinhua said, in a jab at Ling, a brother of former presidential aide Ling Jihua.
\nFor detail please visit:<\/p>\n

Minitrue: “Connections Won’t Shield Graft Probes”<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n