Washington China Review

Editor's note: Corruption is widespread in China and reachs the highest level in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). According to Bignews.org, Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Central Military Commission of CCP's Central Committee and former general secretary of CCP and former head of China, has secret Swiss bank accounts of about US$350 million. Li Peng (and his family), former premier and the former chairman of the Natonal People's Congress, is widely believed to accumulate huge wealth with power through bribery, corruption and other illegal activities. We will publish corruption-related reports and a series of corrupted high level government officials who are already convicted or widely believed by the public to be corrupted.

The first of the "Corruption in China" series is Jia Qinglin, 63, the no. 4 member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and chairman of The 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) . Jia is widely believed to be very corrupted. The former premier Zhu Rongji initiated some investigations targeting Jia, but Zhu were blocked by Jiang Zemin. Jia remains at large due to the strong support from Jiang.

The Official Photo for Jia

It is widely reported in oversea Chinese media that Jia misused and embezzled public construction funds of CNY$ 1.28 billion (about US$150 million) during his tenure in Fujian Province. According to the official record, he worked in the Fujian provincial government from 1985 to 1996 and was the party secretary and governor of Fujian Province for the seven years. Reportedly, Zhu Rongji wanted to pursue Jia's misuse and embezzlement of the public funds in January 2003 before he retired in March 2003. Zhu once again was blocked by Jiang.

It is also widely reported and believed that Jia is closely linked to the Xiamen Yuan Hua smuggling case, the largest smuggling scandal disclosed so far in China. The Yuan Hua scandal occurred in Xiamen (a city in Fujian Province) under Jia's nose when Jia was the top official in Fujian Province. Several hundred CCP officials were involved in the smuggling case and many high level officials have been arrested. It is said that Zhu Rongji wanted to punish Jia for his role in the scandal, but failed to do so because Jia has enjoyed very strong support from Jiang.

Though Jia remains at large, but he still gets wide criticism in oversea China media, and even embarrassments in China. In March 2003, he was very embarrassed when he received the second lowest votes as the only candidate for CPPCC chairman. His low vote is interpreted as a sign of public discontents toward him. However, Jia was "elected" as the chairman anyway.

Jia has become one of Jiang's most trusted followers when he played a key role in helping Jiang to oust former Beijing party secretary Chen Xitong. Chen was a Politburo member, and enjoyed strong support from Li Peng, the premier at that time. Chen did not respect Jiang and was a major obstacle for Jiang to expand power. After Chen was arrested and convicted for corruption, Jiang defeated Li Peng's faction and has fully controlled the Communist party since then.

As a reward by Jiang, Jia rapidly entered the CCP power center. According to the official record, Jia served from 1996 to 1997 as deputy secretary of the CCP Beijing Municipal Committee, vice-mayor, acting mayor and mayor of Beijing. From 1997 to 1999, Jia was member of the Politburo of the CCP Central Committee, secretary of the CCP Beijing Municipal Committee and mayor of Beijing.