Monk President of Beijing’s Sanctioned Buddhist Organization Quits After Allegations of Sexual Assault

Two Buddhist monk delegates arrive the sixth plenary meeting of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on March 16, 2013 Feng Li/Getty Images

BEIJING—One of China’s highest-ranking Buddhist monks quit as the president of the Beijing-sanctioned Buddhist Association of China on Aug. 15 after a government investigation was recently launched into accusations of sexual misconduct.

Xue Cheng, 51, is an abbot of Beijing’s Longquan Monastery and heads the Buddhist Association, through which the Chinese regime monitors the activities of Buddhist practitioners in the communist country. He is also a member of the Standing Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).