Analysis Beijing officially charged Sun Lijun, a former deputy minister of Public Security, with accepting bribes, manipulating the market, and illegal possession of firearms. An expert explains what these abnormal charges entail. Sun was under investigation by the National Supervisory Commission, the regime’s anti-corruption watchdog, in April 2020. While accepting bribes is a typical charge for corrupt officials, the market manipulation and illegal possession of firearms charges are rare and even unheard of. Yuan Hongbing, a Chinese political analyst and law scholar, gives the inside story behind these charges. Manipulating Market: A Financial Coup Previously, few corrupt officials, the so-called tigers, were charged with insider trading or leaking trade secrets, known in China as the “crimes of undermining the order of financial management.” The “market manipulation” charge is new for the sacked tigers. Yuan believes the market manipulation refers to the financial coup that Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua carried out …