The Chinese Communist Party’s Party Building Work Leading Group convened a meeting to deploy the so-called “establishing and practicing the correct view on political achievements” learning and education throughout the party. The meeting was chaired by Cai Qi and attended by Li Xi. Informed sources pointed out that it was not common for two members of the Political Bureau to attend a special party building meeting at the same time, indicating a deliberate arrangement and a concentrated political warning for the officialdom.
According to a report by the official Chinese media Xinhua News Agency on the 24th, the Party Building Work Leading Group meeting held in Beijing that day focused on the “view on political achievements,” which essentially targeted political stance. The general release proposed “integrate learning, examining, and correcting” and called for the establishment of a mechanism to correct deviations in political achievements, embedding related requirements into the entire process of leadership team changes at the provincial, city, county, and township levels. This signifies that the promotion of officials is directly tied to their political attitudes, with assessment standards leaning toward political loyalty.
Informed source Tian Guangyao (pseudonym) stated in an interview with the Epoch Times that while the meeting outwardly emphasized the “view on political achievements,” it actually required senior officials to clarify their political stance and openly take sides. He pointed out, “Strictly speaking, this is Cai Qi issuing a political warning to the senior party cadres and conducting a ‘political reshuffle.’ The so-called ‘integrated learning, examining, and correcting’ means strengthening political identity, obeying Xi Jinping’s command; ‘examining’ means digging deep into violations of the ‘eight-point rules’; ‘correcting’ is targeted at the so-called ‘prominent issues,’ such as statements against the top leadership, which require focused rectification.”
Tian Guangyao stated that this round of so-called “view on political achievements” learning essentially continues the logic of internal rectification initiated before the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, clearing obstacles for the upcoming 21st National Congress next year. He commented, “The issue of political achievements put forward by the senior officials is fundamentally a matter of taking a stance. We notice that the CCP’s party building group personally deployed this, essentially redrawing the lines within the cadre system, determining who is on the core track and who is on the periphery.”
The Xinhua News Agency repeatedly emphasized slogans such as “serving the Party and the people,” “making decisions based on science,” and “conscientiously implementing work.” The language is highly politicized, with the core focused not on governance performance but on ideological unity.
European scholar Mr. Chen believes that when the CCP places political evaluations above economic assessments, addressing “political achievement deviations” is essentially conducting selection and reorganization through the organizational system, further binding the career paths of officials to the core of power. He told reporters, “In a system where power is highly concentrated around Xi Jinping alone, such rectification efforts reveal underlying unease. If one is confident in reelection and authority, there would be no need for such intensive recalibration of the cadre ranks. This indicates his authority is being repeatedly confirmed, rather than taken for granted.”
The high level of specification of this meeting is uncommon in high-level meetings this year. According to official media, the high-level attendees included two members of the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China and three deputy national-level officials. Shi Taifeng and Li Shulei are members of the Central Political Bureau and secretaries of the Central Secretariat, positioned at the core of the party’s power structure; Mu Hong is Vice Chairman of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. According to the current CCP party and government hierarchy, deputy national-level officials are at the level of national leaders, second only to members of the Political Bureau and state leadership. This concentrated level of appearance indicates that this meeting is not a routine work arrangement, but a clear political signal sent to the upper echelons of the official system under the guise of party building.
Scholar Mr. Chen said that Cai Qi has long been in charge of party building and ideological systems. His personal chairing of the meeting is seen as Xi Jinping’s core power further consolidating control over the officialdom through the party building channels. Li Xi’s attendance as the Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is interpreted as a signal for the disciplinary system to intervene and punish officials at any time.
He said, “Li Xi’s presence itself is a kind of warning. If the ‘direction is wrong,’ it may be classified as a violation of discipline at any time, and issues of competence may be elevated to political problems. Li Xi, formerly a secretary to Xi Zhongxun’s old associate Li Ziqi, began his career in Gansu. With Cai Qi in charge of party building and Li Xi in charge of discipline and handling cases, the simultaneous appearance of both carries far more intimidation than procedural significance.”
In recent years, the finances of local Chinese Communist Party governments have deteriorated, hidden debt black holes have expanded, and grassroots finances are on the brink of imbalance. Companies like Apple are accelerating the transfer of core production capabilities to India. Against the backdrop of economic downturn and industrial chain relocation, the senior leadership has chosen to strengthen party internal rectification under the guise of “view on political achievements” rather than directly addressing economic challenges. Interviewees pointed out that this indicates that the current priority is not addressing governance capacity issues but rather power security concerns.
Mr. Chen stated that under Xi Jinping’s highly centralized power system, frequent cadre rectifications through party building channels reflect not stability but anxiety. He explained, “If the authority is unshakeable, there would be no need to repeatedly confirm loyalty through rectification. The repeated emphasis on ‘direction’ and ‘taking sides’ indicates a lack of security among the top leadership about internal consistency.” Such political calibrations often occur during periods when the power structure is loosening, rather than during a period of strong consolidation.