The Chinese Communist Party recently released a batch of cases called “typical issues violating the spirit of the Eight Central Regulations of the CCP.” Among them, the former Vice Mayor of Chongqing, Jiang Dundao, was named and reported for “eager for quick success and instant benefits, blindly pushing through multiple projects, leading to a significant increase in local debt.” Analysts believe that due to the debt issue, the CCP has entered an era of mutual blaming within its ranks.
According to the report published on April 24 by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CCP State Supervision Commission, Jiang Dundao, the former Vice Mayor of Chongqing, was criticized for having “serious deviations in performance assessment, eagerly seeking quick achievements, and blindly pursuing projects.”
The report revealed that from 2019 to 2022, during his tenure as the Party Secretary of Zibo City in Shandong Province, Jiang Dundao vigorously promoted “financial investment,” without proper evaluation, argumentation, and collective research, illegally introducing private enterprises, arranging financing for state-owned enterprises, and setting up government-guided funds, which were led by private enterprises, resulting in massive state fund loss risks. He advocated that “no government debt means no action,” despite knowing the insufficient available fiscal income, forcefully pushing through multiple construction projects and leading to a significant increase in local debt.
However, the official report did not specify the exact amount of the increased local debt.
Jiang Dundao, born in May 1969 in Qingdao, Shandong Province, served as the Party Secretary of Zibo City in Shandong Province, Weifang City, and later became the Vice Mayor of Chongqing in 2023. In October 2025, Jiang Dundao was removed from his position and expelled from the CCP and public office on April 13 this year.
In addition to Jiang Dundao, the Commission also reported issues concerning Feng Yaping, former Director of the Planning and Finance Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, Liu Dali, the former Party Secretary and Director of Customs of Dalian, Li Chenwei, the former Deputy District Head of Jiuyuan District, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Shen Xiaoming, the Deputy Director of the Industry and Information Bureau of Shangrao City, Jiangxi Province, Liu Yi, a member of the Party Committee of the Traffic Bureau of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, Gan Lei, former Party Committee Member and Deputy General Manager of Huanggang Power Supply Company of Hubei Province under State Grid, and Sun Jifeng, Deputy General Manager of the Market Department of China Telecom Hebei Branch.
Chinese affairs expert Li Linyi stated that the report singled out Jiang Dundao for being keen on quick results and blindly pushing projects, using very rare language. Officially, it was mentioned that his forceful promotion of projects resulted in a significant increase in local debt, without specifying the exact figures, possibly due to the magnitude of the numbers. Jiang Dundao’s issues arose during his time in Zibo City, Shandong Province, but all these projects surely required approval from the provincial party committee and relevant national ministries. During Jiang Dundao’s tenure as the Party Secretary of Zibo City, he was approved by two successive provincial party secretaries in Shandong, first by Liu Jiayi, who had retired to the CPPCC, and then by the current Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Ganjie. These two high-ranking officials also bear responsibility; now, it’s just a matter of letting Jiang Dundao take the blame.
Li Linyi also pointed out that China’s economy has been facing severe problems in recent years, especially with the longstanding issue of local debt, which now has escalated to a situation where the central and local authorities are engaged in a blame game, intensifying internal power struggles at higher levels.
Chinese-American economist Li Hengqing once told Epoch Times that the formation of local debt is actually a coordinated move from the central to local levels. Former Minister of Finance of the CCP Liu Kun once mentioned, “You pick up your own children; we won’t support you,” indicating that the central government is passing the buck to local authorities to create an impression that “the central government is good, but it’s the fault of these local officials for being either incompetent or corrupt.” This approach poses a significant risk, as it leads to a scenario where everyone becomes passive.
Li Hengqing also noted that while the Ministry of Finance of the CCP criticizes local officials for having improper performance assessment criteria, the CCP’s performance evaluation has always been focused on boosting the economy, which often involves showcasing good GDP numbers. This leads to debt accumulation, infrastructure projects, and subway constructions. If the economic targets are not met, falsification occurs as numbers can be manipulated. Even Xi Jinping, during his tenures in Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, followed a similar pattern. Every top CCP official who has served at the local level has engaged in such practices.
In fact, this is not the first time that officials have been held accountable for local debt.
In November 2023, the Ministry of Finance of the CCP reported eight typical cases of implicit debt accountability by local governments, involving nearly 46 billion yuan. The Ministry of Finance criticized local officials for having “deviations in performance assessment,” failure to implement central directives effectively, and adversely affecting the prevention and resolution of risks related to implicit debt. It emphasized the need to uphold the leadership of the central authorities.
Among the listed cases, Hubei and Guangxi had larger scales of implicit debt, exceeding 10 billion yuan, with the method involving state-owned enterprises temporarily advancing funds for government projects. Taking Liuzhou in Guangxi as an example, starting from 2016, four state-owned enterprises including Liuzhou North City Investment Development Group supported land-leveling and development tasks originally budgeted for by the finance department, leading to the creation of nearly 17.7 billion yuan in implicit debt.
In the aforementioned cases reported by the Ministry of Finance, Wu Wei, who was the Party Secretary of Liuzhou and Lianghua, the Mayor, faced disciplinary actions within the CCP. On November 16, 2023, Wu Wei, who was the Party Secretary of Liuzhou, was removed from office.
Additionally, Li Zaiyong, the former Vice Chairman of the Guizhou Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who was removed from office in March 2023 and expelled from the party on November 7 of the same year, was also involved in issues related to local debt. He was accused of recklessly borrowing and financing on a grand scale, resulting in significant debt risks. Li Zaiyong used to serve as the chief secretary of the former Party Secretary of Guizhou Province, Chen Min’er.
Former head of the legal department of Beijing Construction Bank, Lawyer Liang Shaohua, told Epoch Times that the CCP’s implicit debt has existed for decades. Since the implementation of the tax-sharing system in the 1990s, due to inadequate fiscal revenue at the local level, various methods were explored, including real estate development through massive land sales and financing infrastructure projects through debt issuance and through various means of financing.
He mentioned that financing not only meets the operational needs of the government but also provides many opportunities for interest transfer due to large infrastructure investments, benefiting local officials’ performance evaluations. As a result, over the years, the accumulated debt keeps growing with each administration, becoming larger and more challenging to handle.
The central authorities of the CCP have demanded local governments to address local debt in various ways, including taking new debts to repay old ones, but the fundamental issue of local debt has not been resolved. Liang Shaohua stated that all these measures taken by the CCP only delay the economic collapse.