Tang Renjian, Chinese Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, was reportedly dismissed for “serious disciplinary violations,” The fall of the heavy hitters in the agricultural sector highlights the volatile political climate of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Since April, the CCDI inspection team has been stationed in the agriculture and rural apartments to conduct a three-month probe until July. Mr. Tang was the first and highest-ranking senior official to be ousted in the agriculture sector this year.
Wang Juntao, U.S.-based Chinese dissident and chairman of the China Democracy Party, told The Epoch Times on May 20 that the CCP is scrutinizing its senior officials one by one, previously targeting the financial and military systems and now turning to the agricultural sector.
Mr. Wang said that the inspection team assigned by the Central Committee mainly looked into the political loyalty and corruption of cadres. “If the official is found to be involved in a power struggle, for example, if his factional affiliation was not seen before but is now recognized, he will be taken down.”
“Once a certain department becomes the target of an inspection, a group of senior officials will often get into trouble.” Mr. Wang said, indicating that there could be more officials purged following the head of the agricultural and rural sector.
For decades, Mr. Tang has been a stalwart in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Finance and Economy Leadership Group and a key architect in shaping policies concerning “agriculture, rural areas, and peasants.”
Genetically Modified Crops in China
During Mr. Tang’s term in office in 2021, agricultural authorities launched a pilot project for the industrialization of GM corn and GM soybeans. By 2023, the scope of the pilot program had been extended to 20 counties in provinces like Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Jilin, Sichuan, and Yunnan, with seed production assigned to Gansu Province.According to an announcement by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs on Dec. 25, 2023, 26 companies were approved for GM crop seed production and operation licenses.
The move is part of the CCP’s attempt to boost crop production and ease the country’s food shortage crisis.
The Chinese authorities have spared no effort to promote GM products into the Chinese people’s food chain. While the privileged class enjoys exceptionally grown food, GM food is strictly prohibited from reaching the dinner tables of senior officials.
In addition, as one of the CCP’s usual means of misleading the international public, stringent tests on GM food were carried out at some of the prestigious competitions held in China, such as the Beijing Olympic Games, the Shanghai World Expo, and the Guangzhou Asian Games, with the official claim that they ensured the food safety of foreign guests.
It is noteworthy that some genetically modified foods have been exported China to countries.
‘Rural Enforcement’
In this regard, Mr. Wang believes that the CCP’s political cleansing of the agricultural and rural sectors could also be linked to the intensification of local conflicts affecting its rule.
Since 2018, the CCP has been organizing a rural enforcement team. At the end of 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development claimed it would formally implement a so-called “Rural Enforcement” as of Jan. 1, 2023, and set up enforcement agencies in agricultural and rural departments across the country.
According to an article published in April 2023 on the Chinese portal site NetEase, there are 2,564 agricultural administrative and law enforcement agencies across China, with over 82,000 law enforcement officers.
