China’s emergency management chief to miss Sichuan memorial event ‘due to ill health’
Senior party official Wang Yupu, 61, said to have been on his sick bed for several months, seen in public only once since February
China’s top emergency management official will be a notable absence from the events taking place in Sichuan province on Saturday to commemorate the 2008 earthquake that claimed the lives of 87,000 people.
Wang Yupu, who was named head of the newly created Emergency Management Ministry in March, had been ill for some time, but his condition worsened significantly about the time of the Lunar New Year in mid-February, sources told the South China Morning Post.
The 61-year-old, who is also a member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, one of its top decision-making bodies, has not been seen in public since April 16, when an inauguration ceremony was held for the new ministry.
While the sources were unable to say what was wrong with Wang, they said he appeared unwell at last month’s event.
A separate, Beijing-based, source said that despite rumours Wang might have been avoiding the spotlight because he was under official investigation, he was in fact seriously ill and had spent the past few months “lying on his sick bed”.
