Tang was appointed as justice minister in April 2020, taking over from Fu Zhenghua, a former top police officer who was also placed under investigation a year after he stepped down from the same post.
‘Not even one’: China pulls up lower-level corruption fighters over lack of cases
‘Not even one’: China pulls up lower-level corruption fighters over lack of cases
Wu Yingai, who was justice minister from 2005 to 2017, was stripped of her party membership four months after stepping down, after it was discovered that a senior law official had secured promotions using fake credentials.
Tang was removed from the post of justice minister in February 2023, a month before he was transferred to the political advisory role in Jiangxi province.
It is extremely rare for key Chinese ministers to be left out of the top decision-making body.
In 2016, after being sidelined for five years in a local political advisory body, Tang was appointed mayor of Ningbo after the downfall of the previous mayor, Lu Ziyue, and became the city’s party boss just three months later.
Chinese football officials given long jail terms over corruption scandal
Chinese football officials given long jail terms over corruption scandal
His rapid political rise continued with a promotion to the post of provincial party leader of Zhejiang in 2017, and then becoming an alternate member of the Central Committee – the party’s elite ruling body – five months later.
Tang was transferred to northeast China’s Liaoning province in 2017 to be deputy party chief, and appointed governor of Liaoning in 2018, a role he held for two years before being promoted to justice minister.
