After the end of the Chinese New Year holiday, investigations have been launched into various high-ranking officials in Xinjiang, with Mu Zongyi, former member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Public Security Department of Xinjiang, becoming the latest official to be implicated on February 26, 2026. Over the past year, there has been a continuous purge in Xinjiang’s political and law enforcement system, with top officials such as Liu Chen, deputy secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission, and Guo Lianshan, former Party Secretary of the Procuratorate, falling from grace one after another.
Following the unusual removal of Ma Xingrui, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo, from his position as Secretary of the Xinjiang Party Committee, many of his close associates in Xinjiang have come under scrutiny. Ma Xingrui has been absent from high-level Communist Party meetings for the past four months amid swirling rumors of his downfall. It is speculated that Ma Xingrui may be the first “big tiger” to be taken down in the Year of the Horse.
On February 26, 2026, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China reported, based on information from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Discipline Inspection Commission, that Mu Zongyi, former member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Public Security Department of Xinjiang Autonomous Region, is under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Public information indicates that Mu Zongyi, a Han Chinese born in Rizhao, Shandong Province in June 1961, holds the rank of first-level Police Supervisor. He previously served as a member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Public Security Department of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, a first-level inspector, and first-level inspector in the production and construction corps of Xinjiang, as well as a member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Public Security Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
In another report by the Xinjiang Discipline Inspection Commission’s official website, several other senior officials in Xinjiang have been investigated in 2026, including Zhou Chunyang, former Deputy Director of the Aksu Regional Committee of the Xinjiang People’s Congress Standing Committee (February 13), Ainivar Tursun, member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Kashgar Regional Committee of the Xinjiang Political Consultative Conference (January 25), Ju Wei, Party Secretary and Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Department (January 16), and Gao Yan, member of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Aksu Regional Committee of the Xinjiang Political Consultative Conference (January 9).
Furthermore, in the past year, there has been a continuous purge in Xinjiang’s political and law enforcement system.
In January 2025, Qin Jiayou, Deputy Secretary of the Kashgar Prefectural Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was removed from his position. Qin Jiayou had previously served in various positions in the Aktau Prefectural Committee, including Deputy Secretary of the Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee.
In March 2025, Huang He, former Deputy Inspector at the Public Security Department of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, was investigated.
In June 2025, Du Haitao, member of the Standing Committee of the Hami Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was removed from his position. Du Haitao had previously served as Secretary of the Tianshan District Committee of Urumqi, Xinjiang Autonomous Region.
In October 2025, Liu Chen, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, was also removed. Liu Chen had previously served in various positions in the Hotan Prefectural Committee, including Deputy Secretary of the Committee and Secretary of the Committee, from 2021 to early 2025 as Secretary of the Hotan Prefectural Committee.
In November 2025, Ma Zhijun, Deputy Secretary of the Urumqi Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was removed from his position. Ma Zhijun had previously served as Deputy Director of the Hotei Region Work Committee of the Xinjiang Political Consultative Conference from January 2020 to May 2021, and subsequently as Alternate Member and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Urumqi Municipal Committee. He was appointed as Deputy Secretary of the Urumqi Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee in 2022.
On December 17, 2025, Guo Lianshan, former Party Secretary and Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Xinjiang Procuratorate, was investigated. Guo Lianshan had served in various positions, including Deputy Governor of Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Deputy Secretary of Urumqi Municipal Committee, and Executive Deputy Mayor, Secretary of the Hami Regional Committee, and First Secretary and First Political Commissar of the 13th Agricultural Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Most of the above-mentioned officials who have been implicated in Xinjiang have close ties to Ma Xingrui, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo who was in charge of Xinjiang from December 2021 to July 2025. Officials such as Liu Chen, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, and Ma Zhijun, Deputy Secretary of the Urumqi Municipal Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Committee, were promoted during Ma Xingrui’s tenure.
On July 1, 2025, the Communist Party announced that Chen Xiaojiang, former executive deputy minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party, would replace Ma Xingrui as Secretary of Xinjiang, with Ma Xingrui being given “another appointment.” However, Ma Xingrui has yet to take on a new role, fueling speculation about his downfall.
After Ma Xingrui was unexpectedly removed from his position as Secretary of the Xinjiang Party Committee, a sweeping purge occurred in both the Xinjiang and Guangdong officialdoms where Ma Xingrui had previously held positions. Several officials who worked closely with Ma Xingrui were investigated, including Chen Weijun, Executive Deputy Chairman of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Government, and Dai Beifang, former Party Secretary and Chairman of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People’s Congress.
Over the past four months, Ma Xingrui, as a member of the Politburo, has been conspicuously absent from high-level Communist Party meetings, including the “collective study” session of the Political Bureau held on November 28, 2025, the Central Economic Work Conference on December 10-11, 2025, the Political Bureau’s Democratic Life Conference on December 25-26, 2025, and the five plenary sessions of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection held on January 12-14, 2026.
Moreover, on December 14, 2025, during the funeral of former State Councilor and Minister of Finance Wang Bingqian, Ma Xingrui did not send a wreath; and on December 26, 2025, during the funeral of former State Councilor and Deputy Chairman of the National People’s Congress Peng Peiyun, Ma Xingrui once again did not send a wreath.
Following his dismissal, Ma Xingrui has been the subject of revelations by Jiang Wangzheng, a political commentator known for leaking information on high-level Communist Party activities, who alleged in a post on X platform on December 26, 2025, that “Ma Xingrui has been exposed and disciplined on charges of corruption. He has not been allowed the opportunity for self-reflection during the Democratic Life Meeting, waiting for the first tiger of 2026.”
After the fall of Zhang Youxia, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and Deputy Chairman of the Military Commission, speculations have been rife that Ma Xingrui could be the next senior official to be taken down, based on observations of officials’ absences and seating arrangements.
On February 20, 2026, Jiang Wangzheng posted on X platform, saying, “Ma Xingrui may be the first official to fall in the Year of the Horse in 2026. The first official announcement after the Chinese New Year?”
Independent commentator Xiangyang recently told Epoch Times that Ma Xingrui is likely to be the first major “tiger” to be taken down in the Year of the Horse, and it will happen soon. He mentioned that aside from corruption issues within his family, Ma Xingrui may have had many problems during his tenure in Shenzhen, Xinjiang, and the aerospace and defense industry.