During the local leadership changes within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), an article written by an official from Dalian, Liaoning Province, was published in the CCP Central Organization Department’s Party journal “Party Building Research”. The article emphasized the need to increase the scrutiny of officials known by nicknames in order to prevent “promoting sick individuals”. However, after the downfall of high-ranking officials personally appointed by CCP leader Xi Jinping following the 20th Party Congress, it is believed that Xi himself may be implicated in the issue of promoting unfit officials, making the publication of the article a direct hit on his sensitive spot.
In the article titled “Enhancing the Acumen of Officials Examination”, Li Kunping, a member of the Dalian Municipal Committee and head of the Organization Department, urged for a focus on political standards in the evaluation process of officials. He mentioned using Xi’s “important directives as a crucial benchmark”, expanding social observations to understand their reputations in public, and particularly enhancing the discernment of officials known by nicknames to firmly prevent promoting unfit individuals.
Commentator Li Linyi pointed out that the Party journal’s article appears to target the issue of “promoting sick individuals” among local officials while invoking Xi’s so-called “important directives”. However, as Xi himself promoted officials who later fell from grace, the article unexpectedly served as a form of indirect criticism, hitting Xi’s sore spot. It is believed that individuals in official circles would privately mock him for this.
According to incomplete statistics from Epoch Times, over 70 members of the Central Committee elected at the 20th Party Congress have been purged (some not officially announced yet), accounting for approximately 20% of all members. Among them, Foreign Minister Qin Gang, who was personally promoted by Xi in an expedited and unique manner, and Military Commission member Miao Hua, a close confidant of Xi involved in managing military personnel.
When the members of the 20th Central Committee were revealed, Xinhua, the CCP’s official media, stated that “General Secretary Xi Jinping personally planned, supervised, and ensured the correctness of personnel preparations for the 20th Committee”. It also mentioned the formation of a committee led by Xi for evaluating senior officials and emphasized that personnel considerations were consistently under the centralized leadership of the party central committee.
Independent commentator Du Zheng expressed in an article for Taiwanese media “Up Media” that the mass removal of officials promoted by Xi, whether due to corruption or disloyalty, significantly undermines Xi Jinping’s authority due to its widespread impact.
On August 29, 2016, the General Office of the CCP Central Committee issued an “Opinion on Preventing the Promotion of Officials with Health Issues”. Article six of the document focused on establishing a robust accountability mechanism for promoting unfit officials: holding the main responsible individuals of party committees (party groups) accountable for situations where promoting unfit officials causes severe consequences or occurs continuously or extensively.
Du Zheng noted that the mentioned party committees naturally include the CCP Central Committee. This provision lays the groundwork for holding Xi Jinping accountable in case of widespread “promoting sick individuals”, paving the way for those with vested interests to leverage these regulations to pursue his responsibilities during a crisis of power.