Sun Lijun (; born 13 January 1969) is a former Chinese politician and

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

officer. He was investigated by the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victoriou ...

's anti-graft agency in April 2020. Previously he served as vice-minister of Public Security and vice-president of the

China Law Society The China Law Society () is the official people's organization of Chinese legal academic professionals. It was established in 1982 and has sub-institutions of different fields of law, such as jurisprudence, constitutional law, civil law, crimina ...

. Prior to that, he served as director of the First Bureau of Ministry of Public Security, handling domestic political security. And he served as the ministry's director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office and a deputy director of the

610 Office The 610 Office (; full name: 中央防范和处理邪教问题领导小组办公室; abbreviated 中央防范办) was a security agency in the People's Republic of China. Named for the date of its creation on June 10, 1999, it was established f ...

, which was in charge of suppressing Falun Gong practitioners. Sun became the second official at provincial or ministerial level to be investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog in 2020, after

Zhang Zhinan Zhang Zhinan (; born October 1960) is a former Chinese politician who spent his entire career in southeast China's Fujian province. He was investigated by the Chinese Communist Party's anti-graft agency in April 2020. Previously he served as exec ...

, former vice governor of east China's

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capi ...

province.

Career

Sun was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

on 13 January 1969. He entered the workforce in September 1988, and joined the

(CCP) in December 1997. He successively served as deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of Shanghai People's Government, deputy director of the General Office of the Ministry of Public Security, member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security, director of the 26th Bureau of the First Bureau, deputy director of the 610 Office of the Central Committee, director of the Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs Office of the Ministry of Public Security. On March 28, 2018, he was promoted to become deputy minister and a member of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Public Security. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he went to

Wuhan Wuhan (, ; ; ) is the capital of Hubei, Hubei Province in the China, People's Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populous city in Central China, with a population of over eleven million, the List of cities in China ...

to supervise the epidemic prevention and control work as a member of the .

Death sentence

On April 19, 2020, he has been placed under investigation for serious violations of laws and regulations by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the party's internal disciplinary body, and the National Supervisory Commission, the highest anti-corruption agency of China. His colleague, Meng Hongwei, was sacked for graft in October 2018. Exiled tycoon

Guo Wengui Guo Wengui (; born May 10, 1970—self claim or October 5, 1968), also known under the names Guo Haoyun (), Miles Guo, and Miles Kwok, is an exiled Chinese billionaire businessman who became a political activism, political activist and controls ...

said both Sun and Meng Hongwei belong to a group known informally as the "

Shanghai clique The Shanghai clique (), also referred to as the Shanghai gang, Jiang clique, or Jiang faction, refers to an informal group of Chinese Communist Party (Chinese Communist Party, CCP) officials who rose to prominence under former General Secretary ...

", led by CCP general secretary

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, s ...

's political rival, former general secretary

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pres ...

. On September 30, 2021, he was expelled from the CCP and removed from public office. On November 4, he was detained by the Supreme People's Procuratorate. On July 8, 2022, he stood trial at the Intermediate People's Court of

Changchun Changchun (, ; ), also romanized as Ch'angch'un, is the capital and largest city of Jilin Province, People's Republic of China. Lying in the center of the Songliao Plain, Changchun is administered as a , comprising 7 districts, 1 county and 3 c ...

on charges of taking bribes. Prosecutors accused Sun of taking advantage of his different positions between 2008 and 2018 to seek profits for various companies and individuals in business favours, government jobs and promotions. In return, he accepted money and property worth over 646 million yuan ($95.74 million). On September 23, he received a suspended death sentence that could be commuted to life in prison after two years, with no possibility of parole. He was also deprived of political rights for life and all his properties were also confiscated.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Lijun 1969 births Politicians from Qingdao Living people Shanghai International Studies University alumni University of New South Wales alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Shandong Chinese Communist Party politicians from Shandong Expelled members of the Chinese Communist Party Chinese politicians convicted of corruption Prisoners sentenced to death by the People's Republic of China