Xinjiang official removed, expelled

A senior official of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region has been removed from office and deprived of his Communist Party of China membership for "serious disciplinary violations", the nation's top anti-graft watchdog said on Sunday.

Wang Yongzhi, 53, once a member of the Party Committee of Kashgar and ex-Party secretary of Shache county, was punished because he seriously violated discipline and political rules and ran against the central leadership's plan on Xinjiang's governance, a statement posted by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said on Sunday.

Wang formed factions and cliques and breached the Party's eight-point frugality rules issued after the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, the statement said.