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China’s technology minister, who played a central role in the country’s push to become a tech superpower, has been removed from office after being out of the public eye for two months.
Jin Zhuanglong has been absent from important government gatherings since the end of December, public records from the ministry of industry and information technology and a Financial Times review of the meetings show.
Extended, unexplained disappearances by Chinese officials have historically indicated an anti-corruption investigation, and four people familiar with the matter said they believed Jin was the subject of a graft-related probe.
China on Friday evening announced that he had been removed from his post and replaced by Li Lecheng, without providing further information. The FT had earlier requested comment from Chinese authorities on Jin’s extended absence and the reported corruption probe.
Jin is the fourth incumbent cabinet member, following ministers of defence, agriculture and foreign affairs, to be removed from office as Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption and discipline crusade has picked up pace in the president’s third term.
Beijing has disclosed fewer details about high-level political shake-ups in recent years. In 2023, Xi appointed a replacement for foreign minister Qin Gang, but authorities have not yet offered a reason for his dismissal.
Li, the newly appointed tech and industry minister, was previously the governor of Liaoning province. Last month, he accompanied Xi on a tour of the province ahead of the lunar new year.
Experts and business leaders have privately complained that Xi’s anti-corruption drive, which the president maintains is vital to the ruling Communist party’s survival, has sown fear in the country’s bureaucracy and paralysed decision making.
China’s anti-graft watchdog disciplined 889,000 officials last year, up 46 per cent from the year before and the most in at least a decade.
Yeling Tan, a professor at Oxford university’s Blavatnik School of Government, said “the focus on party discipline and party loyalty has sent a chill through the system and led to risk aversion” in China’s bureaucracy.
“It is safer to not be proactive,” she added.
Xi’s ambition to reshape China’s economy around advanced technology has raised the tech and industry ministry’s stature in recent years. The department oversees industrial policy, including development of artificial intelligence, semiconductors, telecommunications and electric vehicles.
Jin rose to prominence as chair of state aircraft maker Comac, where he was credited with steering the development of the C919, China’s first domestically produced passenger jet.
He was then promoted to deputy director of China’s central military-civil fusion office before being elevated to industry and tech minister in 2022 following former minister Xiao Yaqing’s removal in an anti-corruption probe.
Prior to disappearing from the public eye, Jin held meetings, spoke at conferences or toured with premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest official, almost every other day, according to the ministry’s records.
Last year, Jin and Li visited top semiconductor groups such as Naura and YMTC, as well as laser maker HGTech and a quantum computing research centre.
The last public event on Jin’s schedule was on December 27, when he led a meeting praising Xi’s new industrialisation ethos. An FT review of videos and government statements confirmed that Jin was absent from subsequent events, with deputies often filling his role.
In early January, Jin missed a meeting of top officials where Xi emphasised corruption as the “biggest threat” to the party.
On February 5, he missed a meeting of the State Council, or cabinet. Aside from foreign minister Wang Yi, who was receiving foreign dignitaries, Jin was the only minister absent.
On Tuesday, Jin’s place in Li’s retinue on a visit to research centres under China’s state-backed telecom groups was filled by deputy minister Xin Guobin.
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