Chinese public security officials have determined that "it is necessary to effectively eliminate the influence" of Zhou Yongkang, second from left, Sun Lijun and Meng Hongwei -- all fallen irritants to President Xi Jinping. (Nikkei Montage/Source photos by Xinhua/Kyodo, AP and Reuters)

Xi returns to his favorite hobby: crushing dissent

As China took up coronavirus fight it also began investigating top police official

KATSUJI NAKAZAWA, Nikkei senior staff writer

April 23, 2020 04:00 JST

TOKYO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping is now shifting his focus from the battle against the novel coronavirus back to the war against what he regards as an equally dangerous presence: his political enemies.

Over the weekend, it was announced that Sun Lijun, a 51-year-old vice minister at the Ministry of Public Security, which oversees China's police organizations, is being investigated by the country's main anti-corruption bodies, the Chinese Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission.