Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian has been sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve after being found guilty of accepting bribes worth more than 268 million yuan (approximately $37.6 million), state media reported on Sunday. The verdict, handed down by the Changchun Intermediate People’s Court in Jilin province, marks one of the most high-profile corruption cases to surface under President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-graft campaign.
According to the state-run Xinhua news agency, Tang abused his authority over nearly two decades, accepting cash and property through his positions in government between 2007 and 2024. The court ruled that Tang had used his influence to secure benefits for individuals and organisations in exchange for large bribes. Although Tang received a death sentence, the punishment was suspended for two years — a mechanism in China that often results in life imprisonment if no further crimes are committed during the reprieve period.
The court stated that Tang was shown leniency because he admitted his guilt, cooperated with investigators and returned illicit gains. However, it emphasised that the severity of his crimes and the harm caused to the integrity of public office warranted the harshest possible sentence short of immediate execution.
Tang’s downfall unfolded rapidly. In May 2024, he was placed under investigation by the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog. Just six months later, in November, he was expelled from the Communist Party and dismissed from public office.
His case is part of a broader purge targeting senior officials in key government and military institutions. Similar investigations recently led to the removal of Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe, raising questions about internal power struggles and the tightening of political control under Xi Jinping.
President Xi launched a sweeping anti-corruption drive in 2012, vowing to eliminate both “tigers and flies” — a reference to high-ranking officials and low-level bureaucrats alike. In 2020, Xi intensified the campaign within China’s domestic security and law enforcement sectors, insisting that security officers must remain “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable.”
Before his appointment as agriculture minister in 2020, Tang served as governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020. During his tenure, he was known for promoting rural economic development and agricultural modernisation, although recent assessments have cast his official achievements in a new light amid corruption allegations.
Tang’s sentencing signals Beijing’s continued determination to demonstrate zero tolerance toward corruption, especially among senior officials. However, human rights advocates and political analysts note that anti-graft prosecutions in China often take place behind closed doors, raising concerns over transparency and the use of corruption charges to eliminate political rivals.
For now, Tang joins a growing list of once-powerful officials whose downfall underscores the risks of disloyalty or misconduct in Xi Jinping’s China.
By FCCT Editorial Team
, an independent military force, and allied militias in Sudan raped several dozen women and girls in West Darfur’s capital, El Geneina, and those fleeing to Chad between late April and late June 2023, Human Rights Watch said today. The assailants appear to have targeted people because of their Massalit ethnicity and, in some cases, because they were known activists.){kind=link}