HK Magazine Reports Xi Jinping Rival in Disgrace Over Tianjin Disaster

According to the Chengming magazine, Zhang Gaoli had asked to resign his job as vice premier during a closed-doors regime leadership meeting.
HK Magazine Reports Xi Jinping Rival in Disgrace Over Tianjin Disaster
A firefighter is seen recording the aftermath at the site of the explosions in Tianjin on August 15, 2015. STR/AFP/Getty Images
Updated:

Following investigations into the massive explosions that shook the northern Chinese port city of Tianjin on Aug. 12, China’s vice-premier may be resigning his position due to fallout from the disaster, the Hong Kong publication Chengming says.  

The vice-premier, Zhang Gaoli, was once the Communist Party boss of Tianjin, where he had jurisdiction over the Binhai New Area, locus of the explosions. Zhang is also widely identified as an ally of former Party leader Jiang Zemin, whose political clique has been the target of the current regime’s anti-corruption purges.  

The Chengming magazine often publishes information about Chinese regime politics, reportedly derived from unnamed insiders. According to the monthly publication, Zhang Gaoli had asked to resign his job as vice premier during a closed-doors Politburo Standing Committee meeting. The Standing Committee is the Chinese Communist Party’s highest decision-making body.

From 2007 to 2012, Zhang served as Party secretary of Tianjin, a provincial-level municipality of over 12 million people on the northern Chinese coast, just dozens of miles from Beijing. He has been criticized by several mainland Chinese news media for his negligence and corruption in office that contributed to the hazardous conditions that precipitated the industrial explosions.

On Sept. 3, after the Beijing parade to celebrate the 70th anniversary of China’s victory in World War II wrapped up, an evening event was held. In attendance were foreign statesmen and high-ranking Chinese regime leaders, including the seven-man Standing Committee.

The arrivals of Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan were followed by Russian president Vladimir Putin and others, as can be seen from state-run televised footage. After them came more foreign politicians, followed in suit by Zhang Gaoli and other Standing Committee members.  

A member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Zhang Gaoli attends the third session of the 12th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 8, 2015. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images)
A member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Zhang Gaoli attends the third session of the 12th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 8, 2015. Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images
Jenny Li
Jenny Li
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Jenny Li has contributed to The Epoch Times since 2010. She has reported on Chinese politics, economics, human rights issues, and U.S.-China relations. She has extensively interviewed Chinese scholars, economists, lawyers, and rights activists in China and overseas.
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