The Chinese Communist authorities are intensifying internal purges and extending their reach overseas to control retired officials. At the same time, the authorities are expanding their control over so-called “unstable” factors in society and cracking down on the phenomenon of “lying flat,” while also increasing exit controls, internet censorship, and social monitoring. Experts point out that with multiple layers of strict control both domestically and internationally, grievances among the Chinese people and officials are reaching a breaking point. Xi Jinping’s autocratic rule is likened to a building standing on a sandy beach, showing signs of collapse, with China on the brink of transformation awaiting the right historical opportunity.
On April 23, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party reported a significant increase in the number of officials at various levels who have faced disciplinary actions or investigations in the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year. The number of high-ranking officials at the provincial and ministerial levels who faced disciplinary actions increased fourfold to 56 individuals. In 2025, the data on anti-corruption efforts showed a historical high of 115 cases involving officials at the provincial and ministerial levels, an increase of 42 from the previous year.
Legal expert Yuan Hongbing noted that Xi Jinping’s large-scale purge is not just about eliminating political opponents but also about eradicating officials deemed politically disloyal. Additionally, it aims to seize the assets of these officials to address the severe economic crisis and especially to fund potential military actions, such as a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Yuan Hongbing highlighted that as the general public has been thoroughly exploited, businessmen are now being targeted. Following the near depletion of private enterprises, corrupt officials are now being targeted for asset seizure.
Yuan Hongbing also pointed out that Xi Jinping’s recent focus on accumulating wealth has shifted towards two groups: temples across China, especially those with substantial followings, have become prime targets for tax authorities, while another group targeted is the prevalent under-the-radar sex workers in China. Officials and police target these sex workers and primarily punish them with fines, reflecting the severity of the fiscal crisis within the Chinese Communist Party.
Recent measures have been taken to tighten control over retired officials in various parts of China, including enforcing stricter regulations on residence changes and private overseas travel, along with intensifying ideological monitoring. After retired officials travel abroad, their hometown’s retired cadres regularly connect to assess their ideological stance and activities.
Yuan Hongbing stated that the heightened restrictions on retired officials leaving the country, even confiscating their passports, are due to the discovery that many retired officials used excuses like visiting relatives or vacationing overseas to make contact with opposition forces and anti-China activists. The political defiance of officials against Xi Jinping has become a severe threat to the Communist Party’s rule.
Yuan Hongbing also mentioned the growing resentment among officials, with even high-ranking officials demonstrating minimal loyalty to Xi Jinping, apart from a few individuals in his inner circle. He highlighted the internal turmoil within the Chinese leadership.
Detailed reports indicate that local authorities are intensifying surveillance over various population groups, as a concept related to the “dynamic control of key individuals within the public security system” has been circulating on the internet. This inclusion involves seven categories of people, including key petitioners, under long-term management within the public security system, triggering alerts whenever they engage in activities.
Chinese returnees from overseas are now categorized as unstable elements, notably those from cities like Shenzhen. Amidst the “anti-spy” atmosphere, students studying abroad and settled returnees are collectively labeled as subjects requiring “special attention” and even regarded as “foreign forces,” with their daily activities monitored and scrutinized.
A blogger from Shanghai released a video on April 28, mentioning the emerging trend of “catching spies” on social media evolving into a mutual surveillance movement. In comment sections, many netizens considered foreigners, international students, and foreign company employees as potential targets, sparking concerns.
Starting from May 1, the Chinese authorities have tightened control over VPN services, affecting numerous VPN users and hindering their ability to circumvent the Great Firewall to access information from outside China.
In late January, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security issued a draft of the “Law on the Prevention and Control of Cybercrime,” emphasizing the obstruction of overseas information channels. Human rights lawyers argue that this law is intrinsically oppressive.
Reports from various regions indicate that the outbound thresholds for 2026 have been further raised, with some provinces imposing passport restrictions not only on officials but also on ordinary residents.
With China’s economy declining, many citizens are facing hardship. Recently, a middle-aged man in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, pretended to go to work for seven days inside his car after becoming unemployed until his vehicle ran out of power and his phone died, leading to a breakdown due to his dire circumstances.
Under the long-term brainwashing and red violence of the Chinese Communist Party, unresolved grievances among the lower class have led to indiscriminate attacks within society. During the recent May Day holiday, mainland China witnessed several tragic incidents, including car ramming incidents in Chengdu and Wenzhou, along with a homicide in Liuzhou, resulting in over twenty casualties.
Such indiscriminate violence, harming the innocent, is condemned as cowardly. In recent years, many overseas dissidents have urged the Chinese people to recognize the Communist Party as the source of such turmoil.
Notably, there are brave voices within China critical of the party. Following the conclusion of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Communist Party Central Committee last year, protesters in Beijing displayed large anti-Communist banners on the second floor of a building calling out the Party’s nature as anti-humanity and anti-humanity evil cult that will bring endless calamity to China. Another banner proposed the establishment of a new China based on freedom, humanity, and rule of law, highlighting the protesters’ current whereabouts remain unknown.
Amidst the challenging political environment in China, where authorities are stressing the development of a “low-altitude economy” while strengthening control over drones, the implementation of the “Public Security Administration Punishment Law” by the Chinese government on January 1 has for the first time defined flying outside airspace regulations as actions endangering public safety, subject to penalties ranging from fines to detention and even criminal detention.
Starting from May 1, all drones in China are required to undergo real-name registration and have their flight activities tracked in real-time.
Beijing has implemented the strictest drone regulations from May 1, including a complete ban on drone flights, sales, and transport within the city, which observers attribute to heightened fears following the precise targeting of Iranian leadership by the U.S. military in the Middle East.
However, Yuan Hongbing revealed that a confidential report within the Chinese Communist Party mentioned concerns about the China Defense League, a registered party in Taiwan, emphasizing the use of drones for political warfare against the party. This has caused alarm within the Chinese Communist Party leadership. It is said that Politburo Standing Committee Member Cai Qi forwarded this report to the Ministry of Public Security, leading to comprehensive drone control in Beijing, with other provincial capitals likely to follow suit.
The China Defense League, led by Cheng Kaili, is dedicated to “destroying the tyranny of the Chinese Communist Party, relocating the Republic of China government to Nanjing, and establishing a democratic federal China.” The party has highlighted the importance of drones in future “national rejuvenation” as a cornerstone weapon, including the integration of AI drones, intelligence warfare, and modern tactical strategies. Yuan Hongbing has joined the party, initiating the “International Volunteer Army to Defend Free Taiwan.”
Yuan Hongbing emphasized that the increased internal and external controls by the Chinese Communist Party signal its impending downfall. He compared the Chinese regime to the former Soviet Union, noting that while both were characterized by authoritarian rule, their outcomes would differ. The Soviet Union had figures like Gorbachev and Yeltsin as internal reformers, leading to a relatively peaceful transition during a nationwide rebellion and uprising. However, Xi Jinping’s attempt to uphold the Communist Party’s inhumane rule is likely to result in a different outcome if faced with a similar resistance movement.
“Their fate is likely to resemble that of Romania’s former dictator, Ceausescu, completely destroyed by the forces of justice,” he stated.
Gong Xiangsheng, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute for National Defense and Security Studies, indicated that the current situation in China mirrors what the overseas scholar He Qinglian has described as the extreme state of “collapse without disintegration.” While facing economic downturns, the regime’s stability control capabilities still overpower the coordination of resistance movements. The turning point is expected to arise when large-scale mechanisms break through the existing control structures.
Contrary to some pessimistic views on China’s prospects for change, Yuan Hongbing argued that the Communist Party is currently facing an unprecedented and immense crisis. “Not only are ordinary people ‘lying flat’ in rebellion, but the biggest crisis of Communist Party tyranny is that nearly all corrupt officials have ‘lain flat’ and become idle. After the 20th Party Congress, Xi Jinping was forced to dismantle the ‘Xi family army’ he cultivated, indicating that almost everyone around Xi Jinping is two-faced.”
According to Yuan Hongbing, insiders in the Party have disclosed that Chinese officials privately mock Xi Jinping as terms like “Xi pig head,” “two hundred catties,” and “burlap bag” are widely circulated in official circles. From this perspective, it is not only the grassroots, but also the foundation of Communist rule, including the millions of officials, who have lost confidence in Xi Jinping’s personal authoritarianism.
“The entire structure of Xi Jinping’s authoritarian rule is like a building on a sandy beach that has begun to crumble, awaiting only the right historical opportunity,” Yuan concluded.