[Epoch Times, February 10, 2025] The Vice Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Luo Baoming, has been accused of bribery and sent to the prosecution for review and indictment. On February 10, the Supreme Procuratorate of the Chinese Communist Party reported that Luo Baoming had recently been arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes. Luo Baoming had served for many years in Hainan Province, rising to the position of Provincial Party Secretary.
Luo Baoming, a native of Tianjin, previously held positions such as Director of the Tianjin Municipal Commerce Commission, member of the Tianjin Municipal Committee, and Minister of the Propaganda Department. In July 2001, he became the Deputy Party Secretary of Hainan Province; in 2007, he became the Governor of Hainan Province; and in August 2011, he was appointed as the Party Secretary of Hainan Province. In April 2017, before reaching the age of 65, Luo Baoming stepped down from his position as Party Secretary of Hainan Province and was later appointed as the Vice Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The following year, he became the Vice Chairman of the 13th National People’s Congress Overseas Chinese Committee until he stepped down in March 2023.
Luo Baoming has previously served as an alternate member of the 15th and 16th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, and as a full member of the 17th and 18th Central Committee.
On July 25 last year, after seven years of serving as Party Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Hainan Province, Luo Baoming voluntarily came forward and cooperated with an investigation.
Luo Baoming has become the second “tiger” to fall from grace in Hainan Province since the former Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, Liu Xingtai, and the first former Provincial Party Secretary to be investigated since the establishment of Hainan Province. He is also the third former provincial party secretary to be investigated since the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, following the former Secretary of the Guizhou Provincial Party Committee, Sun Zhigang, and the former Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Region Party Committee, Wu Yingjie.
Luo Baoming is the first senior official to be investigated since the latter half of last year.
Media reports had previously suggested that Luo Baoming was a close ally and influential figure of former Chinese Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin. In 2015, Jiang Zemin, accompanied by three generations of his family, visited Mount Dongshan with Luo Baoming. This action by Jiang Zemin was seen as a signal of “a phoenix rising from the ashes,” challenging Xi Jinping’s leadership.
The downfall of Luo Baoming also indicates that the internal struggles within the Chinese Communist Party have not abated.
On January 24 this year, official reports stated that Luo Baoming had committed serious violations of discipline and law, had been expelled from the Party, and had been stripped of his privileges.
The report mentioned that Luo Baoming had long engaged in improper dealings with political tricksters, resulting in significant financial losses and negative political impacts, obstructed investigations, promoted superstitious activities, failed to truthfully address issues, allowed relatives and friends to interfere in the appointment of important officials, engaged in irregular selection and appointment of officials, accepted gifts from enterprises, intervened in disciplinary and law enforcement activities, and engaged in corrupt practices, using his public power for personal gain, engaging in power and money transactions, and obtaining substantial benefits for others in business operations and project contracts.