The former Chairman of China Eastern Airlines has been sentenced by a Chinese court to 14 years in prison for taking bribes to the tune of US$10 million over a two-decade time span.
Liu Shaoyong, a former chairman and Party secretary of China Eastern Airlines Holding Co, was sentenced on Tuesday after being convicted of accepting more than 67.5 million yuan in illicit payments.
There has been a rigirous anti-corruption drive in China (wouldn’t it be great if that became a worldwide thing) but it seems to primarily hit people during an politicially opportune time when it’s convenient to get rid of them.
In this particular case, the former Chairman of China Eastern Airlines and CCP Party Secretary was accused of being on the take for two decades.
During the approximately 20 years he stood accused of taking 67.5 million yuan in payments that were not part of his ordinary compensation package.
According to China Daily, this corruption has now come home to roost and the 68-year-old will now spend the better part of his golden years in a Chinese prison.
Liu Shaoyong, former chairman and Party secretary of China Eastern Airlines Holding Co, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for bribery on Tuesday after being convicted of accepting more than 67.5 million yuan ($10.1 million) in bribes over two decades.
The Shenyang Intermediate People’s Court in Liaoning province also fined Liu 4 million yuan and ordered the confiscation of his illicit gains and any proceeds derived from them, which will be turned over to the State treasury.
The court found that between 2002 and 2023, Liu had abused his positions at major Chinese airlines, including China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, to seek benefits for companies and individuals in business operations, project contracting and flight route management in exchange for bribes.
His actions constituted the crime of accepting bribes, involving an exceptionally large amount of money, the court said.
However, the court imposed a lighter sentence after taking into account several mitigating factors. These included the fact that some attempted bribes had not been successful, that Liu had confessed to his crimes and that he had voluntarily disclosed most of his bribery offenses that were previously unknown to investigators.
Liu also pleaded guilty, expressed remorse and actively returned his illicit gains. All assets involved in the case and their proceeds have been recovered, the court said.
The case was heard in public in July, during which prosecutors presented evidence, while Liu and his defense counsel challenged the evidence and presented their arguments. Liu pleaded guilty and expressed remorse in his final statement.
Liu, 68, a native of Henan province, spent much of his career in China’s civil aviation industry, holding senior positions at the country’s aviation regulator, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.
He became chairman and Party secretary of China Eastern Airlines Holding Co in late 2016 and stepped down in July 2022.
Liu was placed under investigation in 2025 for suspected serious violations of Party discipline and national laws. He was expelled from the Communist Party of China in January 2026.
Disciplinary authorities said at the time that Liu had abused his positions to help others secure project contracts, manage flight operations and arrange aircraft leasing in exchange for substantial payments. He was also found to have improperly accepted gifts and entertainment and used his influence to benefit his relatives’ business activities. …
I’m honestly surprised we’re talking about “only” a US$ equivalent of 10 million here since the period of his crimes span over 20 years. On average that’s just 500k per year and those are really rookie number as far as Chinese corruption cases are concerned.
On the other hand, he did confess to the crime and received just 14 years in prison rather than something much harsher. Even though the death penalty for white-collar and corruption crimes remains rare, it is applied in extreme cases involving massive sums of money (typically exceeding 1 billion yuan or equivalent massive state losses, in fact one such cases occurred just this year.
Even though it’s applied somewhat arbitrarily, I wish that the West would apply China’s harsh law enforcement and sentencing methods when it comes to serious crimes. They don’t play!
Conclusion
The former Chairman of China Eastern Airlines who was in office until mid-2022 was found guilty by a Chinese court of having participated in a US$10 million bribery scheme that lines his pockets over two decades.
Liu Shaoyong, the former chairman and ex CCP secretary confessed at his public trial and received a sentenced of 14 years in prison. He was also fined and expelled from the Communist Party.
China was really the wild west when it came to illicit payments, basically bribes, during the rapid development of the country during the past 3 decades. There are countless of these cases. Not that we don’t have plenty of this in the West as well, either outright corruption or camouflaged through insider trading. At least China (President Xi) cracks down hard – when it serves the moment.