Xi’s war on corruption — and disloyalty. Source: GZERO. Fred says:- Following Shanghai Co-op meeting, I wonder if President XI is reflecting on Dictator Putin and the known links to corruption. As for Disloyalty and Russia…there have been many unexplained suicides recently.

Xi’s war on corruption — and disloyalty

A Chinese court on Thursday gave one of Xi Jinping’s former anti-corruption top dogs a death sentence that will be commuted to life in prison after two years for … bribery. Fu Zhenghua, a former police chief and justice minister who led multiple probes under Xi’s former anti-graft czar, pleaded guilty in July to taking $16.5 million in bribes, presumably in exchange for the commutation. The plot thickens: Fu was busted amid a wider crackdown on a ring of dirty ex-cops led by Sun Lijun, who’s awaiting his own sentence for bribery.

But as far as the ruling Communist Party is concerned, their most heinous crime was setting up a political faction separate to Xi’s, which is why its members are getting hefty punishments. (Juicy tidbits of their case were featured in “Zero Tolerance,” a slick state-sponsored docuseries that celebrates the success of Xi’s war on graft.)

The timing is interesting too: in about three weeks, the CCP is holding its 20th Party Congress, where Xi is expected to get a precedent-shattering third term as secretary-general. The party has a penchant for taking down dirty officials ahead of big dates, but going after a clique of cadres disloyal to Xi sends a clear message: don’t cross the big boss.