Since meeting with former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger on Nov. 2, Wang Qishan, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s internal disciplinary agency, hasn’t made a single public appearance by himself. That’s nearly two months. Meanwhile, Wang’s deputies have been busy lecturing and investigating wayward cadres all around China.
His absence has been conspicuous and noted in the Chinese press. Popular Chinese Web portal Sina, for example, wrote a piece asking, “With Wang gone for over a month, what ‘big move’ is the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection planning?” (Actually, Wang has made perfunctory appearances, along with other members of the seven-member Politburo Standing Committee, since Nov. 2, but he has never been featured in a solo appearance since then, which triggered the current speculation.)
Wang’s disappearance from public view is the subject of speculation in Chinese media because over the last couple of years, Wang’s lengthy absences have always been followed by the fall of a “big tiger”—a Party term for high-ranking cadres, still in office or retired, who are widely suspected of corrupt activity.
Analysts say that Wang is likely preparing to take down members in the inner circle of Jiang Zemin, the former Party leader whose political faction, which had effectively run China for decades, has been decimated by Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
The last time Wang “disappeared” in July, General Guo Boxiong, the former No. 2 in China’s military, was expelled from the Party and handed to military authorities to be prosecuted.
Shortly after Wang resurfaced after “disappearing” from May to June last year, the late General Xu Caihou, Guo’s counterpart in the Central Military Commission, and former security czar Zhou Yongkang, were formally investigated for corruption.
In this instance, it has been nearly two months since Wang met Kissinger at Zhongnanhai, the leadership compound in Beijing for the Party’s elite.
