Tang accepted bribes, including cash and property valued at over 268 million yuan (approximately $37.6 million), while holding various official positions from 2007 to 2024, according to Xinhua news agency.
The Changchun Intermediate People’s Court suspended his death sentence for two years, noting that he had confessed to his crimes.
China’s Communist Party expelled Tang in November 2024, six months after the anti-graft watchdog initiated an investigation and removed him from his ministerial post.
Context and Anti-Corruption Campaign
Tang’s investigation was unusually swift and followed similar probes into other high-ranking officials, including Defence Minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe.
President Xi Jinping launched a campaign of purges within China’s domestic security apparatus in 2020, seeking to ensure police, prosecutors, and judges are “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure and absolutely reliable.”
According to official biographies, Tang served as governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020 before being appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.
In January, President Xi stated that corruption is the biggest threat to China’s Communist Party and remains a growing problem.
