In recent years, corruption has become a widespread issue among high-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party. According to the latest data, during the first three quarters of this year, a total of 90 provincial and ministerial-level officials were put under investigation, marking a record high since the past two decades, with 41 of them facing disciplinary actions. In comparison, during the same period last year, 58 provincial and ministerial-level officials were probed, and a total of 73 officials were investigated and disciplined throughout the year.
The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and the National Supervisory Commission announced on October 29th that from January to September 2025, the discipline inspection and supervision authorities nationwide received 3.14 million reports and complaints, opened investigations into 789,000 cases, among which 90 cases involved provincial and ministerial level officials, 3,704 cases involved bureau-level officials, 31,000 cases involved county-level officials, and 106,000 cases involved township level officials. Additionally, 72,000 current or former village party secretaries and village committee directors were subject to investigations.
In total, 677,000 officials at all levels received disciplinary actions, including 502,000 party disciplinary actions and 220,000 governmental disciplinary actions. Among them, 41 provincial and ministerial level officials, 2,953 bureau-level officials, 24,000 county-level officials, 84,000 township level officials, 90,000 general officials, and 476,000 other personnel in rural areas and enterprises were disciplined.
On the same day, Caixin reported that in 2024, a total of 73 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated by the discipline inspection and supervision authorities nationwide, indicating that the number of central-level officials investigated during the first 9 months of this year has far exceeded the total from the previous year.
Starting in July 2023, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and the National Supervisory Commission began to publish the number of central-level officials investigated and disciplined by quarter.
In the first half of 2023, 36 central-level officials were investigated by the discipline inspection and supervision authorities nationwide, with 18 provincial and ministerial level officials being disciplined. From January to September 2023, 54 central-level officials were investigated, with 34 provincial and ministerial level officials facing disciplinary actions. Throughout 2023, a total of 87 central-level officials were investigated, and 49 provincial and ministerial level officials were disciplined.
In the first quarter of 2024, 16 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated by the discipline inspection and supervision authorities nationwide, and 12 of them were disciplined. In the first half of 2024, 41 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated, with 25 of them facing disciplinary actions. From January to September 2024, 58 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated, with 53 facing disciplinary actions. In 2024, a total of 73 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated and disciplined.
The report mentioned that in the third quarter of 2025, the number of “tigers” (meaning high-ranking officials) investigated reached a record high since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
In the first quarter of 2025, 13 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated, and 14 of them were disciplined. In the first half of 2025, 43 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated, with 30 of them facing disciplinary actions. This indicates that during the first, second, and third quarters of 2025, 13, 30, and 47 provincial and ministerial level officials were investigated respectively, with 14, 16, and 11 of them being disciplined.