The Chinese Communist Party announced Tuesday it is investigating former Wuhan Mayor Zhou Xianwang—the face of the city’s botched coronavirus response—for alleged “serious violations of discipline and law.” The probe, revealed by the regime’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, marks a rare move against a high-profile official who played a pivotal role during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Zhou, now a vice chairman of the symbolic Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), faces likely corruption charges, according to local reports, including possible links to a previous probe into another Hubei official, Jiang Chaoliang. While the CCP has not disclosed whether Zhou is under arrest, it confirmed he is “under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.”
Zhou, a Party loyalist since 1980, was mayor of Wuhan when the coronavirus emerged in late 2019. His administration failed to issue early warnings, allowed mass gatherings like the infamous 130,000-person Lunar New Year banquet, and brutally silenced doctors who tried to raise alarms—most notably Dr. Li Wenliang, who died shortly after being detained for “rumor-mongering.”
In a January 2020 press conference, Zhou admitted he withheld information about the virus and allowed 5 million Wuhan residents to leave the city before lockdown, facilitating global spread. He shifted blame to Beijing, claiming local officials could only act once authorized by the central government. The CCP’s state media branded his remarks a “disaster” and moved swiftly to centralize control over the outbreak.
Following his public shaming, Zhou was quietly removed in 2021 and reassigned to the low-power CPPCC. His current investigation signals potential punishment not just for alleged financial misconduct, but for bringing international disgrace on the regime at the pandemic’s outset.
The same Party that punished doctors for warning the world now seeks to rewrite history by targeting the man they once used to shield Beijing from blame.
