Another high-ranking Chinese Communist Party official has been involved in an incident. It was reported that Yu Jianhua, a member of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP and the Director of the General Administration of Customs, allegedly committed suicide in his office on the evening of December 10th, following a meeting with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection on the 9th. On the 10th, Yu Jianhua was seen meeting with officials from Jilin Province in Beijing, but the official state media reports on this meeting have since been taken down.
Independent commentator Cai Shunkun revealed on December 11th that Yu Jianhua, aged 61, took his own life in his office the previous night.
There are also speculations that Yu Jianhua shot himself. A netizen posted on a platform saying, “Central Committee member Yu Jianhua committed suicide by gunshot in his office at 10:37 p.m. on December 10th.” The post mentioned a connection to the case of Sun Yuning.
On September 24th of this year, Sun Yuning, a member of the CCP Customs General Administration Party Committee and Deputy Director, became the highest-ranking customs official to be investigated in recent years.
Official reports regarding Yu Jianhua’s suicide have not been seen from the Chinese Communist Party yet. As of the time of reporting, a search on the Customs General Administration’s official website leadership page still listed Yu Jianhua.
Yu Jianhua was seen in public just yesterday on the 10th. According to a report by official media outlet Xinhuanet, on December 10th, Huang Qiang, the Secretary of the Jilin Provincial Party Committee, Hu Yuting, the Deputy Secretary and Governor of the Provincial Party Committee, held a working meeting with Yu Jianhua, the Director of the General Administration of Customs and Party Secretary, in Beijing.
However, a reporter from Dajiyuan found that the news article had been taken down on the evening of December 11th, Beijing time.
Discussions about Yu Jianhua started to surface on Weibo, with users questioning the situation.
Public records show that Yu Jianhua, born in December 1961 in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, is a seasoned international trade official.
He has held various positions in the Ministry of Commerce of the CCP, including in Europe, Belgium, and as Deputy Director of the Department of Foreign Trade. He also served as the Director of the Department of International Trade of the Ministry of Commerce. In February 2018, he became the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the CCP to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland.
Cai Shunkun mentioned that Yu Jianhua, carefully selected as a ministerial-level official by Xi Jinping’s personnel team during the 20th Party Congress, had only been at the Customs Administration for a little over two years. If there were any issues related to his political background or corruption, it would likely stem from his time at the Ministry of Commerce. However, in that role, he was more of an expert in business judgment and had limited actual power. Yet, the fact that he committed suicide right after being spoken to by the CCDI on Monday (the 9th) indicates that this prominent figure in international trade negotiations did not want to endure mental torment and chose to end his own life decisively.
Despite this, Yu Jianhua has been notably active this year. On July 1st, he attended the inauguration ceremony of the President of Panama as Xi Jinping’s special envoy. On August 29th, he conversed with Wang Jun, the Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Party Committee. On December 10th, he held a working meeting with officials from Jilin Province in Beijing.
Overseas netizens have commented on this incident:
“If a normal person is forced to lie or do evil and has no way to refuse or escape, they only have suicide as a means to maintain their innocence. High-ranking officials in the system face the same situations. Just on this point alone, it must be acknowledged that the party and the country are formidable.”
“Suicide?”
“The Customs Administration is a department with huge profits.”
“Maybe he didn’t write the report well, didn’t learn the real skills of the statistics bureau, which led to flaws in the data presented, causing the wrath of higher-ups. Oh…”
“Do you think he really committed suicide? Why do I feel like he was killed?”