Vice-governor of China’s Sichuan province Peng Yuxing ‘taken away in corruption investigation’
A source says Peng Yuxing was “taken away” last week and facing an internal Communist Party investigation. Photo: Handout
BEIJING, Apr 25, 2019, SCMP. A vice-governor of China’s southwestern province of Sichuan has been placed under investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter, reported the South China Morning Post.
Peng Yuxing, 57, became the vice-governor of Sichuan in 2017. A source told the South China Morning Post: “He was taken away last week”, adding that he was likely to be facing an internal Communist Party investigation for alleged corruption.
According to the provincial government’s website, Peng’s responsibilities include defence-related industrial and technological development, civilian-military integration and industrial and scientific development.
A second source confirmed that Peng did not appear at an anti-corruption meeting presided over by the provincial governor Yin Li on Tuesday nor was his name listed with six other vice-governors in Wednesday’s report on the meeting by the official newspaper Sichuan Daily.
However, Peng is still named on the official website of the Sichuan government as one of the province’s vice-governors.
The provincial propaganda department did not respond to requests for comment.
The last media report about him was on April 15, when he attended a routine meeting to discuss work safety and the development of culture and tourism.
Peng, a Sichuan native, is a high academic achiever. He graduated from Sichuan University and received his PhD from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris specialising in polymers and materials.
He then served in leadership positions at the Chengdu Institute of Organic Chemistry, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, between 1997 and 2009.
In 2015 he was promoted to party chief of Mianyang, an important research and production base for the defence industry.
The city is home to more than 18 national defence research institutes and more than 10 universities, including two national military research institutes – the China Academy of Engineering Physics and the China Aerodynamics Research Institute.
The former is the main nuclear technology research centre, while the latter hosts the biggest wind tunnel in Asia, which is used to develop military aircraft.
Peng was also the chief of the party’s working committee for the Mianyang Sciences and Technology City project, responsible for working with researchers to convert military technology into civilian products.
Another source, who served in a senior position in a municipal legislature in the province, said Peng’s problem “is similar to Li Chengyun”.
Li was the deputy governor of Sichuan between 2008 and 2011. According to the state-run Legal Evening News, one of Li’s lovers was exposed as a double foreign agent.
In 2017 he was jailed for 10 years for accepting bribes totalling over 6.36 million yuan (US$958,000).
Additional reporting by Cissy Zhou
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