Local officials replaced in wake of China’s worst lone wolf car attack in Zhuhai

The city’s top security chief is the latest to depart but the moves have not been officially linked with the incident that claimed 35 lives

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A man lights a candle near flowers placed outside the sports centre in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, where China’s worst lone wolf attack killed 35 people and injured 43 others in November. Photo: AP

Published: 2:33pm, 30 Dec 2024Updated: 6:02pm, 30 Dec 2024

Heads have continued to roll among senior local Communist Party officials in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai more than a month after a deadly car attack left 35 people dead, although the departures have not been explicitly linked with the incident.

Zhang Qiang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Zhuhai Municipal People’s Congress, the city’s legislature, and a former vice-mayor, is the latest to come under investigation or be replaced since the incident.

Zhang Qiang, a member of the city legislature in Zhuhai, Guangdong province in southern China, has come under investigation. Photo: Weibo / 品德爱生活

The provincial anti-corruption watchdog, Guangdong’s commission for discipline inspection, said on Sunday that Zhang, 58, was suspected of “serious disciplinary and law violations”.

Zhang held a number of law enforcement positions in the city over the past decade, including deputy procurator-general, director of the public security bureau and as secretary of the city party’s political and legal affairs committee – the top security role.

According to the official website for Xiangzhou district, where the car attack happened, its party secretary was replaced early last week, a move that followed the departure earlier this month of the district’s mayor.

The same fate has befallen the mayor of Zhuhai, along with a deputy mayor of the city and its police chief.

According to a report last week in the party newspaper Zhuhai Special Zone Daily, the city’s top security official has also been replaced as secretary of the political and legal affairs committee.