China arrests former agriculture minister Tang Renjian for corruption

China's former agriculture minister and party secretary Tang Renjian has been arrested for suspected bribery, the nation's top prosecutor on Tuesday.

"Recently, the Supreme People's Procuratorate made an arrest decision on Tang Renjian on suspicion of taking bribes in accordance with the law," the Supreme People's Procuratorate said in a statement.

The case, which has been concluded by the National Supervisory Commission, is being further processed, it said.

Tang, 61, was removed from the leadership roster of the ministry's website in May and expelled from the Communist Party six months later.

The move to investigate Tang was unusually swift and follows similar investigations of former defence minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe as China cracks down on corruption.

Tang was governor of the western province of Gansu from 2017 to 2020 before being named minister of agriculture and rural affairs, according to official biographies.