In a dramatic fall from grace, China’s former justice minister Tang Yijun received a life sentence Monday for accepting millions in illegal bribes during his decades-long political career, according to The News.
The Xiamen Intermediate People’s Court delivered the harsh verdict, finding that Tang had pocketed property worth over 137 million yuan, roughly $19.7 million, between 2006 and 2022. The court’s ruling was unsparing: Tang had systematically abused his powerful positions to help companies and individuals secure favorable treatment in everything from stock listings to bank loans and even legal cases.
“Tang’s actions constituted the crime of bribery,” the court declared, noting the sums were “particularly huge” and inflicted “particularly serious losses” on both state and public interests. Beyond the life sentence, Tang was stripped of all political rights and saw his personal assets completely confiscated.
The 64-year-old’s downfall marks another significant scalp in President Xi Jinping’s relentless anti-corruption crusade, which has been sweeping through China’s power corridors with renewed intensity. Just this weekend, authorities announced a probe into Wang Xiangxi, the current emergency management minister, a rare instance of a sitting minister falling under investigation. Last month, the campaign reached even higher when China’s top general, Zhang Youxia, became the subject of the most high-profile military purge to date.
Tang’s career trajectory had been impressive. Starting in Zhejiang province, he spent over thirty years climbing the ranks to become deputy Communist Party chief there, then governor of Liaoning province, before reaching the pinnacle as justice minister in 2020. Notably, he was considered a close Xi ally, having served as Ningbo party secretary while Xi held top positions in Zhejiang from 2002 to 2007.
That connection couldn’t save him. Investigators first targeted Tang in April 2024 for “serious violations of discipline and law” Beijing’s euphemism for corruption. By year’s end, he’d been expelled from the Communist Party entirely.
The message from Beijing is unmistakable: in Xi’s China, no one, not even former allies, stands above the law.
