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China's Ag Minister Fired

China's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is under investigation for "suspected serious violations of law and discipline" and his name and photo have been eliminated from the Ministry's "leaders" web page. The disciplinary review and investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of Minister Tang Renjian was announced in a special Friday night meeting on May 18.

Former Minister Tang's alleged crimes were not revealed. It is unusual for a government minister to be investigated, and the Minister had given a speech at an employee recruiting event in Shaanxi Province just 3 days before he was hauled up for investigation. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs doesn't have a lot of opportunities for corruption, and 61-year-old former Tang was known as a technocrat with a doctorate in economics. Tang is a native of Chongqing in southwest China, was a policy expert with the central rural policy leading group in Beijing, and he served stints as a provincial and party official in Guangxi and Gansu Provinces before ascending to the post of Minister in late 2020.

Epoch Times guessed that the ex-Agriculture Minister has been blamed for the highly unpopular "agricultural management" enforcement thugs that were placed in villages after Tang took office. The agricultural management officials--described by some as "devils in the village"--instructed farmers on how they should tend their fields, demanded that they rip out fruit trees to plant grain, and ordered village officials to plant rice on idle mountaintops. 

Radio Free Asia also speculated that Tang may have taken the blame for the "agricultural management" program which swelled to 82,000 rural cops operating in over 2000 localities. A commentator suggested to Radio Free Asia that Tang Renjian may have been aligned with the wrong political group. It is said that he was very close to former Vice Premier Liu He, who retired last year.

Tang's strong support for genetically engineered crops was suggested by some commentators, but their reasoning was unclear.

Tang is the latest of a series of ministerial-level officials to be investigated during Xi's third term. In 2023, Foreign Minister Qin Gang and Defense Minister Li Shangfu were removed from office.

Tang's predecessor, Han Changfu, served 11 years as Minister of Agriculture. But Han also disappeared from the website overnight without explanation when Tang Renjian was appointed as his successor in 2020. Han was given a ceremonial post with the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference which he retired from last year.

In 2018 another former agriculture minister, Sun Zhengcai, got a life sentence for taking bribes when he was minister of agriculture in 2002 and in other positions. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' announcement of Tang's investigation warned party officials at all levels that they must always maintain the true nature of political integrity, gain a deep understanding of Xi Jinping's thoughts on socialism and rural affairs, and tighten the ideological "master switch." 

The article warned rural officials, "We must severely punish corruption with a zero-tolerance attitude...and resolutely win the tough battle against corruption."

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