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On January 12, 2026, Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Discipline Inspection Commission. Instead of emphasizing the “overwhelming victory in anti-corruption and comprehensive consolidation,” as he had done before, Xi Jinping now stated that in the fight against corruption, “we cannot afford to lose and must not lose.”
Why did Xi Jinping, after 13 years of anti-corruption efforts, talk about “not losing” rather than “winning”?
Because the reality is like lice on a bald head – it is clear that the more the Chinese Communist Party fights corruption, the more corrupt it becomes.
So, what are the specific manifestations of this?
In today’s program, we will discuss this topic based on public reports from both domestic and international sources.
The first major manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party becoming more corrupt as it fights corruption is the record-breaking number of senior officials under investigation.
Senior officials under investigation are officials directly appointed by the Party Central Committee, including all vice provincial and ministerial-level officials and some bureau-level officials in special departments.
According to data released by the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, in 2025, a total of 129 senior officials were under investigation. Among them, there were 115 officials at the vice-ministerial level and above, and 14 officials at the bureau level appointed by the central authorities. This number not only broke the historical records of senior officials investigated each year since Xi Jinping took office in 2012 at the 18th National Congress of the Party, but also broke the historical records of senior officials investigated each year since the implementation of the “reform and opening up” policy by the Chinese Communist Party in 1978.
The second major manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party becoming more corrupt is the increasing corruption within the military.
According to the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, in 2025, 115 vice-provincial officials were investigated. However, based on the information listed on the official website of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission, only 51 vice-provincial officials were under investigation in 2025. This means that the remaining 64 officials should be senior military leaders who were investigated.
In the Chinese Communist system, vice-provincial officials usually correspond to the rank of lieutenant general in the military, while deputy vice-provincial officials usually correspond to the rank of major general or brigadier general. This means that all these 64 officials are generals.
With 64 generals under investigation in a year, this number has broken the historical records of all years since the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party for the investigation of generals.
This is also unparalleled in world military history. Some mockingly say that the Chinese Communist Party has once again achieved a world record in the military field.
The third major manifestation of the Chinese Communist Party becoming more corrupt is that the number of corrupt officials sentenced to penalties in the billion yuan range has broken historical records.
According to reports from Chinese state media, in 2025, at least 31 corrupt officials involving billions of yuan were sentenced, making it the year with the highest number of billion-yuan corrupt officials sentenced since the 18th National Congress of the Party.
It should be noted that these billion-yuan corrupt officials do not include senior military leaders. The Chinese Communist Party dares not disclose the amount of corruption among senior military officials, probably because the figures are so outrageous that if made public, it could lead to possible unrest among military personnel.
Looking around the world, apart from mainland China, no other country or region has had as many billion-yuan corrupt officials sentenced within a year. It can be said that this has once again broken a world record.
Many may wonder why Xi Jinping, despite personally leading and deploying the anti-corruption campaign since taking office, has seen an increase in corruption rather than a decrease.
As early as January 2013, when Xi launched the anti-corruption campaign at the second plenary session of the 18th Central Discipline Inspection Commission, he mentioned that he wanted to “lock power in the cage of the system.” However, in the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Discipline Inspection Commission in 2026, Xi Jinping still talked about wanting to “lock power in the cage of the system.”
In reality, Chinese Communist leaders are not willing to “lock power in the cage of the system,” and this is the key reason for the increasing corruption despite anti-corruption efforts. Let’s look at four key phenomena that show China’s reluctance to limit power.
The first is that the Chinese Communist Party practices a de facto “one-party rule.”
Since the anti-rightist movement launched by Mao Zedong in 1957, criticizing the Chinese Communist Party’s “one-party rule” has been met with severe reprisals. In 2017, Xi Jinping openly stated in the Party Constitution of the 19th National Congress, “The Party exercises overall leadership over all areas of endeavor in every part of the country.” This essentially announced to the world that the Chinese Communist Party practices “one-party rule.”
“One-party rule” means that from the government, military, judiciary, law enforcement, media, enterprises, schools, and even religion, every sector of society must align with the Party.
This also means that without strong supervision and constraints, Party power expands infinitely, opening the door to power-money transactions, power-power transactions, and power-influence transactions.
The second point is that the highest power of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership has never been locked in a cage.
During the decade of the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong’s dictatorship, authoritarianism, and lawlessness caused great disaster to China. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, An Ziwen, former Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, was asked by Bao Tong, political secretary of Zhao Ziyang, when An returned to Beijing from exile, “Who will supervise Mao Zedong?”
Fifty years later, the question of “who will supervise the highest leader of the Chinese Communist Party” remains unresolved for the Communist Party. Xi Jinping, as the top leader of the Party and state, is the first person responsible for the construction of party conduct, integrity, and the responsible promotion of sick officials. As corruption within the Chinese Communist Party worsens, Xi should bear the primary responsibility for failure.
However, to this day, has Xi Jinping ever had a self-critical word for the two “first responsibilities” he must bear? After reviewing all the reports in the Chinese Communist Party’s official media, no such self-criticism can be found.
If Xi fails to comply with the accountability system, does the Chinese Communist Party have a practical system in place to hold Xi accountable for violating party discipline, political discipline, and legal responsibilities?
The answer is: No.
The lack of a supervisory system for the highest leader is the biggest institutional loophole in the Chinese Communist Party’s anti-corruption efforts. Without solving this critical issue, anti-corruption efforts will only be a temporary solution.
The third key point is that the Chinese Communist Party dare not establish an asset disclosure and transparency system for officials.
A former Singaporean official once said, “If a country does not establish a system for officials to disclose their assets publicly, the country’s anti-corruption efforts can only be superficial.”
This statement is very sound. Currently, countries and regions that have been more successful in addressing official corruption issues usually implement a system for officials to declare and disclose their assets. This system includes three key elements: 1. Officials voluntarily declare their assets; 2. The public has the right to supervise officials’ asset declarations and can check the asset declarations of each official. If they find discrepancies, they can report them immediately; 3. There are strong supervisory agencies to investigate officials who provide false information in their asset declarations or are reported for providing false information.
So, does the Chinese Communist Party understand that establishing an asset declaration and disclosure system for officials is a fundamental solution to combat corruption? The answer is: Yes. As early as 1988, a delegate to the National People’s Congress proposed legislation on the declaration of assets by civil servants. In 1994, the 8th National People’s Congress formally included the “Asset Disclosure Law” in the legislative plan.
However, after decades have passed, the Chinese Communist Party has not yet enacted the Officials’ Asset Declaration and Disclosure Law. Is this a deliberate evasion? When the Chinese Communist Party talks about “locking power in a cage,” it is nothing more than self-deception.
The Chinese Communist Party has also consistently refused to establish a normal news and public opinion system.
A strong news and public opinion supervision system is one of the fundamental solutions to fighting corruption. Because what corrupt officials fear most is exposure, tracking, and in-depth investigative journalism. However, the Chinese Communist Party not only refuses to enact a “news law” safeguarding “freedom of the press,” but also prevents public opinion from overseeing issues like corruption.
Since the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, corruption cases in the military, from major rocket forces cases to military equipment system cases, to Ma Weidong, director of the Political Work Department of the Military Commission, to He Weidong, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, as well as numerous cases involving the navy, ground forces, air force, rocket forces, and armed police forces, were any of these cases reported by Chinese media before they happened? No. After the cases occurred, were there any follow-up reports? No. Were there any in-depth investigative reports? No.
For all these major cases related to the military, the Chinese Communist Party has consistently covered them up.
Party media serves the Party, turning the media into a mouthpiece for those in power, completely losing its function of public opinion supervision.
If the Chinese Communist Party truly wants to combat corruption, it should actively and voluntarily establish a sound system and implement oversight mechanisms.
However, the Chinese Communist Party is unwilling to do so. In such a situation, how can anti-corruption efforts achieve real results? How can corruption be reduced rather than increased?
Well, that’s all for today’s program. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed our program, don’t forget to like, subscribe, and share. See you in the next episode.
– Production Team of “Century Truth”