On September 11, 2026, former deputy commander of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, Li Xu, who was a close aide to Ma Xingrui, was removed from office eight months after being placed under investigation. The official report accused him of engaging in political opportunism, associating with political swindlers, and illegally accepting large sums of money.
Li Xu, a former party committee member and deputy commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, was officially expelled from the Chinese Communist Party and dismissed from public office on September 11, 2026, as announced on the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection’s website.
The report stated that Li Xu engaged in political opportunism, cultivated relationships with political swindlers, and participated in superstitious activities; received vehicles and driver services from private business owners at no cost, with the expenses that should have been paid by himself covered by others; used his position for personal gain in matters of promotion and employee recruitment; illegally accepted gifts and money; and abused his public power for personal benefits in procurement of equipment, project contracting, land use changes, and unlawfully receiving substantial amounts of money.
Li Xu was found to have committed serious violations of duty and was suspected of bribery. He was consequently expelled from the Party, relieved of his public duties, and stripped of his qualifications as a delegate to the CCP’s Tenth Party Congress of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Eighth Party Congress of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the Eighth Party Congress of the Ninth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. His alleged criminal activities were referred to the prosecution for further review and potential charges.
The report accused Li Xu of engaging in political opportunism and associating with political swindlers, without providing further details about these associations. The identity of the so-called “political swindlers” remains undisclosed.
In recent years, numerous high-ranking Chinese officials have been investigated for engaging in political opportunism and associating with political swindlers, including former executive deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security Fu Zhenghua, former Minister of Justice, and former Deputy Secretary-General of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Han Yong, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference; Cao Guangjing, former Deputy Governor and Party Committee Member of the Hubei Provincial Government; Wu Lan, former Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Hunan Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee; Fei Dongbin, former Director of the National Railway Administration; Wang Yong, former Deputy Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Government Party Committee; Li Gang, former head of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Team of the Central Organization Department of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; Zhou Jiabin, former secretary of the Guilin Municipal Committee in Guangxi; and Dou Wanggui, former Deputy Chairman and member of the Party Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Committee.
In the anti-corruption documentary “Eternal Vanguard”, it was revealed that Li Quan, who only had a high school education, portrayed himself as a “senior advisor to leadership comrades,” deceiving Fu Zhenghua, the former executive deputy minister of the Ministry of Public Security and the former Minister of Justice for 20 years, and exploiting opportunities for land development, litigation coordination, and employment for relatives.
The term “political swindler” was defined by the “China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Magazine” in 2023 as someone who falsely claims to have special relationships with leaders, relatives, classmates, secretaries, or advisors, often lacking legitimate occupations, and preying on people via deception.
An article in the “China News Weekly” in April 2025 stated that officials associating with political swindlers ultimately engage in political opportunism. Political swindlers create a mysterious identity, exaggerate relationship resources, and disguise themselves as “talented individuals” to penetrate official circles in a more concealed and flexible manner, forming networks of gray interests.
Professor Han Rui from Xi’an Jiaotong University analyzed in his paper on the causes and governance strategies of “political swindlers” that the concentration of power among leaders in the CCP and government leads some party members and cadres to resort to “climbing relationships” and seeking pathways for promotion, allowing “political swindlers” room to maneuver.
Former Yunnan Provincial Committee member and Secretary of the Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection Feng Zhili once wrote about the political culture of Yunnan, where geographical conditions and limited information flow facilitated a political subconscious among party members and cadres of “high sky, emperor’s far,” creating an environment for “political swindlers” to exploit the attachment mentality of officials and disrupt the local political ecosystem.
On January 8, 2026, on the eve of the CCP Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plenary session, Li Xu, a member of the party committee and deputy commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, was placed under investigation.
According to publicly available information, Li Xu was born in February 1973. He previously worked in the central state organs of the CCP and later served as a member of the party committee and deputy division commander of the 12th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, then moved to become the executive deputy minister of the organizational department of the party committee in November 2017, and later served as the secretary and political commissar of the 9th Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Ma Xingrui took over as the Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region from Chen Quanguo at the end of December 2021, concurrently serving as the First Political Commissar of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and the First Secretary of the party committee of the corps.
Subsequently, Li Xu was promoted to become the deputy commander of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and deputy general manager of the CCP’s new construction group in June 2022. He then took on additional roles within the corps, serving as the secretary general and the secretary of the Working Committee directly under the party committee of the corps, among other positions.
Ma Xingrui, a member of the CCP’s Politburo, was relieved of his duties as Party Secretary of Xinjiang in July 2025 and was officially placed under investigation on April 3, 2026, before being investigated and sanctioned on July 14. The official report accused Ma Xingrui of “seriously violating political discipline and rules,” allowing serious violations and criminal acts among his staff, seeking benefits for others in the selection and appointment of cadres, arranging job placements for family and friends, illegally accepting gifts, aiding relatives in purchasing houses at reduced prices, engaging in “power-color, money-color transactions.” The report also highlighted Ma Xingrui’s complicity in allowing family members to exploit his position for substantial gains and engaging in widespread corruption within his family, involving illegal acceptance of substantial sums of money alongside specific individuals.