High-ranking official surrenders to authorities, a new anti-corruption model emerges in the Chinese Communist Party.

Recently, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released a statement saying that Luo Baoming, Deputy Director of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress of the CCP, took the initiative to turn himself in and is currently under review and investigation. Political analysts believe that this represents a new model of “anti-corruption” by the CCP. Due to the current financial difficulties faced by the authorities, they are forcing officials with substantial assets to surrender their assets in exchange for a way out, indicating a shift in the authorities’ motive from political to economic in handling officials.

The Commission’s website released this information on July 25th. Luo Baoming, who is about to turn 72 this year, had long worked in Hainan. On May 27th of this year, the CCP Hainan Provincial Committee held a province-wide “warning education meeting,” which was attended by Luo Baoming and other provincial-level senior cadres. This was also the last public appearance of Luo Baoming before being investigated and reported by the media.

According to official records, Luo Baoming was born in October 1952 in Tianjin, where he worked in the early years and served as a member of the Standing Committee of the CCP Tianjin Municipal Committee and Minister of the Propaganda Department. In July 2001, he was transferred across provinces to be the Deputy Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Committee and briefly served as the Minister of the Provincial Committee’s Propaganda Department. In January 2007, he became the Acting Governor of Hainan Province. In August 2011, Luo Baoming became the Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Committee and held the position for nearly six years.

In April 2017, Luo Baoming was appointed as the deputy director of the Overseas Chinese Committee of the CCP National People’s Congress, serving until March 2023.

Following the closure of the 20th Third Plenary Session of the CCP, Luo Baoming turned himself in. He is the first central cadre to be investigated after the Third Plenary Session and the sixth department-level official to be taken down by the Commission so far this year. Additionally, Luo Baoming is the first former provincial committee secretary in Hainan to be investigated since the province was established.

Public information shows that in the past two years, several bureau-level officials in Hainan have been investigated. In 2022, a total of 48 bureau-level officials in Hainan were investigated, which rose to 53 in 2023. In 2024, the officialdom in Hainan continues to be shaken, with at least thirty officials being investigated in June alone.

Wang Juntao, Chairman of the China Democratic Party National Committee, said in an interview with the media on July 27th that given the “retrospective” investigation by the leadership of Xi Jinping’s government, Luo Baoming realized he had nowhere to escape and thus chose to turn himself in.

Wang Juntao stated that provincial secretaries of the CCP are usually part of the CCP’s elder family or factions such as the Jiang Zemin faction, Tuan faction, etc. However, since Xi Jinping took office, the influence of these factions has significantly declined. He believes that due to the current financial difficulties faced by the CCP authorities, investigating officials of Luo Baoming’s level can save a significant amount of retirement and medical expenses. Hence, the authorities’ motive in handling officials has shifted from political to economic.

Du Wen, former Executive Director of the Legal Advisory Office of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, residing in Belgium, told the media that rumors about Luo Baoming being investigated have been circulating in recent years. Before the convening of the Third Plenary Session, many provincial and ministerial-level officials had disappeared, and although everyone knew they were being investigated, the CCP authorities did not make it public.

Du Wen stated that Hainan Province has limited political influence on the Central Committee of the CCP, and poses little threat to Xi Jinping compared to other regions. He said, “For those who are retired, have little influence, and pose little threat to the Xi Jinping regime, they often accumulate a large number of assets, especially in Hainan, where officials own a lot of land. Now that the CCP is facing financial difficulties, it needs these people to cough up money. I think Luo Baoming falls into this category. The so-called ‘voluntary surrender’ is actually giving these officials a chance for ‘lenient treatment,’ such as shortening the sentence, but they must surrender their assets.”

Du Wen also stated that this is a new “anti-corruption” model by the CCP, allowing officials to surrender their assets in exchange for a way out. He said, “The CCP is financially strained, really short of money, in dire need. Now in China, those who truly control social wealth are these officials, just grab one person randomly, and they can produce tens of billions, hundreds of billions, or even trillions.”

Luo Baoming is considered a close confidant and staunch supporter of the late former CCP leader Jiang Zemin. Accompanied by Luo Baoming, three generations of Jiang Zemin’s family once climbed the eastern ridge of Hainan. This move by Jiang Zemin was seen as a signal of “resurgence on the eastern mountain,” challenging Xi Jinping.

On January 3, 2015, several Chinese portal websites cited a report from the Hainan Eastern Ridge WeChat public account, introducing the news of Jiang Zemin and his family’s tour of the Eastern Ridge of Hainan. Photos showed the 89-year-old Jiang Zemin needing assistance while walking, and another photo showed Jiang Zemin and his entourage riding in a golf cart.

These photos showed Jiang Zemin, accompanied by his wife Wang Yeping and the then Secretary of the CCP Hainan Provincial Committee, Luo Baoming, touring the Eastern Ridge of Hainan. After the Hainan Eastern Ridge WeChat public account released the news and photos of Jiang Zemin and his family’s visit to the Eastern Ridge, major Chinese portal websites reposted the content. However, shortly afterwards, all related reports were deleted.

Before this incident, Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the CCP Central Politburo Standing Committee and former Secretary of the CCP Political and Legal Affairs Commission, was put under investigation on July 29, 2014. At that time, 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China all expressed their determination to “maintain a high degree of consistency with the Central Committee of the Party,” but the authorities in Hainan Province did not mention anything about it.

In addition, Zhou Yongkang’s two close associates – Tan Li, former member of the Hainan Provincial Committee and Executive Vice Governor, and Ji Wenlin, Deputy Governor of Hainan Province – were investigated in July 2013 and February 2014 respectively. Tan Li was promoted by Zhou Yongkang and belonged to the Sichuan faction, while Ji Wenlin had long followed Zhou Yongkang.

At the time, some analysts believed that Luo Baoming’s high-profile accompanying of Jiang Zemin, who had been ignored and marginalized by Xi Jinping, was sending a signal of “resurgence on the eastern mountain,” which was quite unusual. With Jiang’s top officials falling one after another and many high-ranking officials distancing themselves from Jiang Zemin, fearing for their own safety, Luo Baoming’s bold behavior was particularly noticeable.

Before 2015, Jiang Zemin used to fly to Sanya, Hainan for the winter every year. Especially during the time when Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were in power, Sanya had a direct line to Zhongnanhai. For Jiang Zemin, Hainan had become a symbol of his “remote control” over Zhongnanhai.

In the winter of 2015, this routine of Jiang Zemin was broken. There were reports that the plan for Jiang Zemin to spend the winter in Hainan was halted by the General Office of the CCP Central Committee, and he was asked to stay in Shanghai. It was said that this instruction came from the highest echelons.

A year after Zhou Yongkang’s downfall, Luo Baoming publicly claimed to maintain a “high degree of consistency” with the Xi Jinping authorities and “safeguard the authority of the Central Committee.”

In August 2015, Luo Baoming stated at a public meeting that since the 18th National Congress of the CCP, they have rigorously investigated high-ranking officials including Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, Guo Boxiong, Xu Caihou, Ling Jihua, Su Rong, etc. He mentioned that these individuals held high positions but “disregarded Party discipline and national laws, acted against their words, and followed their own will,” ultimately leading to their “downfall and disgrace,” emphasizing the need to learn from these lessons. He also declared the intention to “maintain a high degree of consistency” with the CCP Central Committee under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping.

Analysts believe that Luo Baoming’s gesture of making nice with Xi Jinping may be a self-rescue attempt by the Jiang faction in the face of a changing tide. Given the new regulations of “capable of rising and falling” under Xi Jinping, high-ranking Jiang faction officials represented by Luo Baoming may find it difficult to avoid being removed or investigated.

(Ning Xin contributed to this article)