Xiao Yaqing (born September 1959) is a former Chinese engineer, business executive and politician who served as Minister of Industry and Information Technology from 2020 to 2022. Previously he served as director of the

State Administration for Market Regulation The State Administration for Market Supervision (SAMR) (), is the ministerial-level agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council, constitutionally synonymous with the Central People's Governm ...

and

State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC) is a special commission of the People's Republic of China, directly under the State Council. It was founded in 2003 through the consolidation of variou ...

. He was an alternate member of the 17th

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, officially the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It is currently composed of 205 fu ...

and a member of the 18th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party.

Early life and education

Xiao was born in Xinle County,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

, in September 1959. He entered Central-South Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (now

Central South University Central South University (CSU; ) is a national public university in Changsha, Hunan, China. The university is sponsored by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China, China Ministry of Education. It is a Chinese state Double Fir ...

) in 1978, majoring in non ferrous metal pressure machining at the Metallic Materials Department, where he graduated in 1982.

Executive career

Beginning in August 1982, he served in several posts at the Northeast Lightalloy Fabrication Plant () in

Harbin Harbin (; mnc, , v=Halbin; ) is a sub-provincial city and the provincial capital and the largest city of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China, as well as the second largest city by urban population after Shenyang and largest ...

, including engineer, deputy chief engineer, chief engineer, and general manager. In June 1999, he was transferred to Southwestern Aluminium Fabrication Plant () in

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

, where he eventually promoted to December 2000. Under his management, the company turned losses into profits and ranked among China's top 500 enterprise groups. In October 2003, he became deputy general manager of Aluminum Corporation of China Limited, rising to general manager the next year.

Political career

In February 2009, he was appointed

deputy secretary-general of the State Council The office of Deputy Secretary-General of the State Council () functions as the deputy to the Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance i ...

, after this office was terminated in January 2016, he became director of the

, serving until May 2019, when he was named director of the

. In July 2020, he was appointed party branch secretary of the

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the Chinese government, established in March 2008, is the state agency of the People's Republic of China responsible for regulation and development of the postal service, Internet, wireless ...

, concurrently holding the minister position since August 2021.

Investigation

On 28 July 2022, Xiao was put under investigation for suspected "violation of discipline and law" 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. On 18 December 2022, he was expelled from the CCP and dismissed from public office. He was downgraded to a first-level chief section member ().

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Xiao, Yaqing 1959 births Living people People from Xinle Engineers from Hebei Businesspeople from Hebei Central South University alumni People's Republic of China politicians from Hebei Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hebei Government ministers of the People's Republic of China Alternate members of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party