One-Time Potential Rival to China’s Xi Pleads Guilty to Corruption

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A purged Communist Party politician once regarded as a future Chinese leader stood trial on corruption charges in a case seen as part of an effort by President Xi Jinping to neutralize potential political rivals.

Sun Zhengcai, a member of the ruling Politburo until his abrupt removal last year, pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for taking bribes worth millions of dollars and abusing his power during his half-day trial on Thursday, according to a statement on the trial court’s official microblog.

Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Sun’s crimes stretch back 15 years before his removal, a period when he rose up the ranks, running a suburban Beijing district, the Agriculture Ministry, the northeastern province of Jilin and the inland megacity of Chongqing.

Many China politics experts and some party insiders attribute Mr. Sun’s downfall to his reputation as a possible next-generation leader whose rise and allegiances lay in his ties to senior party figures other than Mr. Xi.

The goal in purging and denouncing Mr. Sun is to “set new rules and eliminate challengers” to Mr. Xi’s power, said Wu Qiang, a current-affairs commentator and former politics lecturer in Beijing. “This also disrupts efforts by rival factions to renew themselves.”

Neither Mr. Sun nor his lawyer, whom the court didn’t identify, could be reached for comment.

Before he was placed under investigation last July, Mr. Sun was party chief of Chongqing and the youngest among the Politburo’s 25 members. President Xi was preparing for a Communist Party congress in the fall that would mark his ascent as China’s most powerful leader in decades and allow him to promote allies to senior posts.

Mr. Sun was the highest-ranking serving official snared by the sweeping anticorruption campaign that Mr. Xi has used to sideline rivals and consolidate power. Mr. Xi then promoted a protégé, Chen Min’er, as the new Chongqing party chief.

During Thursday’s trial, Mr. Sun read his concluding statement off a piece of paper. “I sincerely plead guilty and express remorse,” Mr. Sun said, according to state television footage. “I have only myself to blame and deserve to be punished.”

In China, where convictions in high-profile trials are typically foregone conclusions, defendants are expected to express remorse to get any leniency in sentencing.

The No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court in the northern port city of Tianjin also posted photos on its microblog showing Mr. Sun flanked by a pair of bailiffs.

Prosecutors accused Mr. Sun and unnamed associates of illegally accepting more than 170 million yuan ($27 million) in assets, in return for help winning project tenders, personnel appointments and other favors, the court said.

The trial was adjourned, the court said, and a verdict would be announced on an unspecified date.

Mr. Sun’s downfall echoes the 2012 purge of Bo Xilai, who was also Chongqing’s party chief and a rival to then leader-in-waiting Mr. Xi. Mr. Bo was dismissed after his wife was implicated in the murder of a British businessman, and he is serving a life sentence for corruption and abuse of power—charges he denied during his trial.

Mr. Sun was sent to Chongqing and tasked with cleaning up Mr. Bo’s legacy. The party’s internal disciplinary inspectors determined before Mr. Sun’s removal that he had failed to curb corruption in local bureaucracy and business and stamp out the “lingering pernicious influence” left by Mr. Bo.

In the two weeks preceding Thursday’s trial, Chongqing’s official party newspaper ran a stream of reports and commentaries condemning Messrs. Bo and Sun’s “twisted” methods of governance.

“Sun Zhengcai positioned himself as ‘the youngest political figure in China’ and let his personal views override the party center’s wishes,” the city government said in a March 29 commentary in the Chongqing Daily. “Sun Zhengcai and Bo Xilai both used the Chongqing project as a personal tool for seeking promotion and rising through nobility.”

The Tianjin court’s microblog announced Mr. Sun’s trial minutes after the hearing’s scheduled start on Thursday morning. It said a public notice of the trial was posted Sunday.

More than 130 people attended the trial, including members of the public, media, the national legislature and a government advisory body, the court said.