China puts Ma Xingrui protege Guo Yonghang under investigation for corruption

Guo Yonghang is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law”, according to China’s top anti-corruption watchdog.

Photo: VCG via Getty Images A former top official of Guangdong province, widely seen as a “right-hand man” of former provincial governor Ma Xingrui, is under investigation for corruption.

The investigation into Guo Yonghang, Communist Party secretary for Guangzhou from June 2023 until December, deepens the uncertainties about the fate of Ma, who was abruptly removed as Xinjiang’s party secretary in July and has since vanished from public life.

Guo was named vice-chairman of the Guangdong provincial committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) – the country’s top political advisory body – in January.

He is suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law”, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, announced on Friday, using its usual euphemism for corruption and bribery.

Guo, 60, was Ma’s top aide when he was party secretary of Guangdong tech hub Shenzhen from 2015 to 2016.

A career bureaucrat, Guo climbed the ranks from local departmental official to become a key power player in Guangdong, eventually overseeing the provincial capital of Guangzhou.

The 1989 Chinese history graduate began his career at the ground level in Shenzhen.

Unlike many officials who rotated between provinces, Guo spent nearly three decades in this one city, building a deep power base from the propaganda department to the organisation department.

That is where he crossed paths with then-party secretary Ma, a prominent aerospace technocrat who oversaw China’s lunar exploration programme before being “parachuted” into Guangdong to lead the country’s hi-tech engine.

After serving as Guangdong governor for about four years, Ma became party secretary of Xinjiang and was given a seat on the 24-member core decision-making Politburo in 2022.

News of Guo’s fall follows months of intense speculation about Ma, who has not been seen in public since July when he was removed from Xinjiang’s top post “to be appointed to another position”, according to Xinhua.

Ma’s high-profile absence from the annual “two sessions” meetings this month has fuelled further speculation about his whereabouts.

The Politburo – the party’s innermost circle – is now down to 22 members after Beijing removed two of its most senior military leaders, Zhang Youxia and He Weidong, from the body.

In 2018, Guo was

原文链接: 南华早报