China Probes Minister In Charge of Tech Regulation

China’s anticorruption investigators have opened a probe into a government minister who plays a leading role in managing the country’s strategic semiconductor and digital technology sectors—one of the highest-ranking officials to be targeted in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s crackdown on graft in recent years.

Xiao Yaqing, China’s minister of industry and information technology, is suspected of violating Communist Party discipline and the law, the party’s and state’s top disciplinary agencies said in a brief statement Thursday, using a vague phrase often applied to corruption allegations.

The party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the state’s National Supervisory Commission didn’t elaborate on the alleged wrongdoing committed by Mr. Xiao, who couldn’t be reached for comment. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology didn’t respond to a request for comment.

The investigation of Mr. Xiao makes him the first incumbent minister to face such an inquest since Mr. Xi started his second term as party chief in 2017.

It also extends a far-reaching crackdown on corruption that Mr. Xi has directed since taking power in late 2012, a campaign that helped the Chinese leader curb rampant graft within the party, purge challengers to his authority and consolidate power.