(TibetanReview.net, Jan04’21) – Accused of facilitating for personal profit, illegal mining activities in Qinghai Province and thereby causing serious damage to local political ecosystem, China has expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and dismissed from public office the province’s former vice governor Wen Guodong, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Jan 4.
Illegal coalmining has been going on in the Qilian Mountains of the province’s Tsonub (Chinese: Haixi) Prefecture since 2006, and the Chinese government began to launch an investigation only late last year. In the meanwhile, thousands of Tibetans were driven out of their ancestral land, mostly in Themchen County, to enable Chinese coalminers to take them over and later to turn their hometown area into a 50,200 square kilometre Mount Qilian National Park.
More than 25 million metric tons of coal had been mined by a Chinese company under the guise of ecological restoration, creating around 15 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) of profit, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Sep 1.
The Xinhua report said an announcement by China’s top anti-graft body on Jan 4 said Wen was guilty of serious violations of Party discipline and laws.
The report said the announcement by the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission came on the heels of an investigation carried out by the authorities into the case of Wen, who also once served as secretary of the Haixi Mongolian and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture committee of the CPC and secretary of the Party working committee of the Qaidam circular economy pilot zone.
The report cited the watchdog statement as saying Wen had lost his ideals and convictions, played at major decisions and arrangements by the CPC Central Committee and traded his power with illegal private businesses, resulting in continuing illegal mining activities in the province and serious damage to local political ecosystem.
Abusing his public power, Wen sought benefits for others in terms of illegal mining and construction project contracts and illegally accepted a huge amount of property and money in return, the statement was reported to have added.
His qualification for delegates to the 19th CPC National Congress and to the 13th CPC Qinghai Provincial Congress was stated to have been terminated.
There are no suggestions that the thousands of Tibetans who lost their land, way of life and livelihood as a result of the illegal mining and other construction activities will be compensated.
