Washblog

The official Xinhua news agency said that Ji Wenlin had been removed from his post as a vice governor of the southern island province of Hainan.The ruling Communist Party's anti corruption watchdog announced in February that Ji was being investigated for suspected serious breaches of party discipline and the law, the usual euphemism for graft.The government has given no other details and it has not been possible to reach Ji for comment. Sources have told Reuters that Zhou has been put under virtual house arrest.Neonatal disposable oxygen probePresident Xi Jinping has launched a sweeping crackdown on corruption since taking power, warning corruption is a threat to the ruling Communist Party's very survival.Ji worked with Zhou when the latter was land resources minister in the late 1990s. He then followed Zhou to Sichuan province and became one of his secretaries when Zhou was provincial party boss, Ji's official resume shows.The two also worked together in the Ministry of Public Security in the early 2000s. In late 2010 Ji was shifted to Hainan province, known in China for its pristine beaches and resorts.Several of Zhou's political allies have been held in custody and questioned over corruption, including former Vice Minister of Public Security Li Dongsheng and Jiang Jiemin, the top regulator of state owned enterprises for just five months until September.It is unclear if the government will actually put Zhou on trial and risk embarrassing revelations about China's elite becoming public, undermining confidence in the party.Zhou was a patron of former high flying politician Bo Xilai, who was jailed for life in September for corruption and abuse of power in the worst political scandal since the 1976 downfall of the Gang of Four led by the widow of former leader Mao Zedong at the end of the Cultural Revolution.Zhou retired in 2012. He was last seen at an alumni celebration at the China University of Petroleum on October 1. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.