Wang Lijun

Early Life and Police Career in Liaoning

Wang Lijun was born on 26 December 1959 in Taonan, Jilin province, and is ethnically Mongol; his family moved to the Arxan forestry district of Inner Mongolia when he was six or seven. In his early years he worked as a sent-down youth and an army clerk before joining the police force, rising from beat officer to police station chief. He subsequently served as police chief of Tiefa (now Diaobingshan) and then Tieling in Liaoning province, before becoming police chief and party secretary of Jinzhou, and later Vice Mayor of Jinzhou. During his years in Liaoning he became known for an aggressive, hardline approach to crime; contemporary media reports credited him with the execution of more than 800 criminals across his postings in Tiefa, Tieling, and Jinzhou.

Transfer to Chongqing and the "Strike Black" Campaign

In June 2008, Wang was transferred to Chongqing as Executive Deputy Director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau and Deputy Party Secretary; in March 2009 he was promoted to Director and Party Secretary, and in 2010 he was elected Vice Mayor of Chongqing. During his time there, he became the principal executor of the 'Strike Black, Root Out Evil' campaign led by Bo Xilai, aggressively pursuing gun confiscations and crackdowns on organised crime, which at the time earned him widespread domestic acclaim as an anti-crime hero and marked the peak of his public standing.

The Wang Lijun Incident and Trial

On 6 February 2012, Wang Lijun entered the United States Consulate General in Chengdu, remaining on the premises for approximately thirty hours before departing and being taken into custody by Chinese authorities. He disclosed to US personnel information regarding Gu Kailai's alleged role in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, thereby triggering the full-scale investigation into Bo Xilai. On 24 September 2012, the Chengdu Intermediate People's Court sentenced him to fifteen years in prison and deprived him of political rights for one year, on charges of defection, perverting the course of justice, abuse of power, and bribery.