Zhou Yongkang and his son pay the price

After the arrest and public trial of Politburo member and former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai shocked public opinion at home and abroad, in recent days, observers have paid special attention to the arrest of Zhou Bin, the son of a former senior leader in the Chinese Communist Party. This is a figure who once held a position in the Politburo Standing Committee, Zhou Yongkang.

Many people close to Zhou Yongkang have been arrested.

Zhou Yongkang was born in 1942 in Jiangsu Province. Zhou Yongkang joined the Communist Party of China in 1964 and joined the geological survey in northeastern China in 1966. He spent most of his early career working in the oil and gas industry. By the mid-1980s, he was Vice Minister of the Oil and Gas Industry, and from 1996 he was General Manager of the China National Petroleum Corporation. In 1998, he was Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, and in 1999, Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee. In 2002, he was appointed Minister of Public Security for the 2002-2007 term.

The reason why Zhou Yongkang was able to advance so quickly in his political career was thanks to bribery and support from Jiang Zemin (Zhou married Jiang's niece after his first wife died in a traffic accident, in which Zhou was rumored to be the mastermind). When Jiang Zemin launched the persecution of Falun Gong, Zhou Yongkang was one of the people who actively participated and supported Jiang wholeheartedly. Not only that, he was also said to have brutally persecuted and taken many other measures to cut off their financial resources, such as firing children if their parents practiced Falun Gong and vice versa. The result of these actions was that thousands of people were killed and disappeared.

In addition to the crimes committed against Falun Gong practitioners, during the time Zhou Yongkang was in office at the Ministry of Public Security, as well as before as Secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee or holding important positions in other ministries and departments, Zhou directly or assisted his subordinates in corruption, causing great discontent among the public in the most populous country in the world. However, at that time, Zhou Yongkang's power was too great due to the absolute support of Jiang Zemin. Zhou was still able to maintain his position until he relinquished power and retired in May 2012.

In August 2013, Chinese media reported that Zhou Yongkang and his family members were being targeted by a corruption investigation team set up by the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, Xi Jinping. After nearly four months of investigation, on December 1, 2013, the Director of the Central Office of China led security personnel to Zhou Yongkang's home to read the arrest warrant for him and his second wife, Jia Xiaoye. Not long after Zhou Yongkang was arrested, Zhou Bin (Zhou Yongkang's eldest son) - who was said to have taken advantage of his father's influence to make profits through business contracts, buying and selling public land, interfering in oil and gas projects, bribing officials, collecting protection money, etc. - was also arrested after a period of house arrest in the suburbs of Beijing.

For their crimes, the Zhous and their accomplices will certainly be held accountable before the law and the Chinese people. It is worth mentioning that since Xi Jinping replaced his predecessor Hu Jintao, he has continued to have policies to further promote the world's second largest economy and flexible foreign policies to realize the "Chinese dream". Another important priority is to take a strong hand in the anti-corruption campaign with very strong statements. He once said: "Regardless of central or local officials, regardless of their position, big or small, they must be dealt with by law if they are corrupt, live in luxury, and are corrupt. Corruption, according to him, is an incurable disease that affects the survival of the Party. Corruption makes some people "happy", but makes the people suffer...".

South Scene