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Meredith Chen

William Zheng

A former Communist Party chief of the resource-rich Inner Mongolia autonomous region, who was also China’s first veterans affairs minister, is under investigation amid the country’s continuing anti-corruption campaign.
Sun Shaocheng, 65, is being investigated by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection for “suspected serious violations of discipline and law”, a euphemism for corruption, the top disciplinary body said on Thursday.
Sun serves as vice-chairman of the Social Development Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, a semi-retirement position he was appointed to in October 2025 on reaching retirement age. He is a member of the party’s 20th Central Committee.
The disciplinary review and supervisory investigation was announced days after the announcement that China’s top-ranking general, Zhang Youxia, and another senior officer, Liu Zhenli, were under investigation.
Sun’s downfall came only four months after he stepped down as party chief of Inner Mongolia, a role he held from 2022 to 2025. Wang Lixia, who served as the region’s government head at the time, came under investigation in August 2025.


Sun played a key role in China’s veteran affairs from 1999, when he had a leading role at the Bureau of Preferential Treatment and Resettlement, part of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, which was then in charge of resettling former military personnel.
In 2018, he became the first head of the newly established Ministry of Veterans Affairs, an agency with the task of “making the military a respectable profession” as part of President Xi Jinping’s agenda to “build a strong armed forces”. He served in that position until 2022.
Official media reports indicated that Sun had extensive working relations with Zhang, who was then the second-ranking deputy chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), as well as Miao Hua, the CMC’s then ideological and personnel chief.
According to the reports, they often attended top meetings relating to veterans affairs together.
Sun’s ministerial role also earned him a seat on China’s Central Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development, the decision-making and coordinating body created by Xi in 2017 for military-civil fusion.
It was led by Xi and included Zhang, who was then director of the CMC’s Equipment Development Department and was promoted to a deputy chairman role with the CMC in 2018, while continuing to serve as the PLA’s point man on the commission.
In August 2025, Yang Youbin, a former top aide of Miao, was removed from his role as vice-minister for veterans affairs.
When Sun became party chief of Inner Mongolia in 2022, the autonomous region was entering the third year of a sweeping corruption investigation centred on its coal sector – the “20-year accountability review” – that was launched in 2020.
Sun had extensive experience in the State Council across several ministries. In addition to veterans affairs, these included civic affairs and the land and resources portfolio.
In 2012, he became vice-governor of Shandong province in eastern China, moving to central Shanxi province in 2014 as a standing committee member of the provincial party committee and head of its United Front Work Department. He was appointed vice-governor of Shanxi in 2016.


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Sun Shaocheng’s downfall is announced days after investigations into China’s top-ranking general Zhang Youxia


Sun Shaocheng’s downfall is announced days after investigations into China’s top-ranking general Zhang Youxia.


China investigates Sun Shaocheng, former Inner Mongolia party chief and veterans minister

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sun Shaocheng’s downfall is announced days after investigations into China’s top-ranking general Zhang Youxia

Sun Shaocheng’s downfall is announced days after investigations into China’s top-ranking general Zhang Youxia