On Tuesday, January 6, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officially released the data for the “anti-corruption” efforts in 2025: 65 mid-level officials are under scrutiny, setting a new historical record. Additionally, hundreds of fugitives have been apprehended. Experts analyzing the ongoing “anti-corruption” campaign by the authorities point out that CCP leader Xi Jinping demands absolute loyalty from officials akin to servitude, reaching an extremely paranoid level.
According to a report by the China Discipline Inspection and Supervision News on January 6, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission launched investigations into cases involving several mid-level officials in 2025, including Jiang Chaoliang, Jin Xiangjun, Lan Tianli, Liu Hui, and Yi Huiman, with a total of 65 mid-level officials being investigated throughout the year, reaching a historic high.
Official reports indicate that the disciplinary and supervisory authorities focused on cases of corruption that intersect political and economic issues, specifically targeting corruption in sectors with concentrated power, intense finances, and abundant resources such as finance, state-owned enterprises, energy, pharmaceuticals, universities, sports, and construction projects. They also strengthened supervision over the spouses, children, and in-laws of leading cadres engaged in irregular business activities and jointly penalized key bribery offenders.
Official data reveals that from January to November 2025, a total of 782 fugitives were repatriated, including 61 party members and state employees, 36 “red notice” individuals, and 2 “Hundred Red Notice” persons, resulting in the recovery of embezzled funds amounting to 23.657 billion yuan.
Looking back at the CCP’s anti-corruption efforts, numerous high-ranking officials have been taken down, shocking the public with the extent of those implicated.
Since Xi Jinping took office in November 2012, during the period spanning the 18th to the 19th National Congress of the CCP, heavyweight figures like Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong, Ling Jihua, Sun Zhengcai, and Su Rong, were among the many senior and deputy national-level officials who fell from grace. Additionally, at least 20 ministerial-level and 130 deputy ministerial-level officials were investigated.
From the 19th to the 20th National Congress of the CCP held in 2017, the higher-level officials implicated included 1 deputy national-level, 12 ministerial-level, and 96 deputy ministerial-level officials. Since the 20th Congress, deputy national-level officials such as Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu have been targeted, alongside at least 20 ministerial-level and 99 deputy ministerial-level officials.
The military system of the CCP has also been significantly affected, with the downfall of 7 generals including Zhang Yang, Miao Hua, Li Yuchao, and Liu Yazhou, followed by at least 19 lieutenant generals and 59 major generals.
On January 5, 2026, the CCP officially announced that Tian Xuebin, former Party member of the Ministry of Water Resources and deputy minister, is under investigation for serious violations of discipline and law. Tian Xuebin became the first mid-level official investigated in the new year of 2026; he previously served as the secretary to the former Premier of the State Council, Wen Jiabao.
China affairs expert Zhang Tianliang previously mentioned on the program “Breaking Dawn” that many provincial and ministerial-level officials who have fallen from grace recently do not have direct political ties to Xi Jinping himself, nor have they sided with the “anti-Xi forces”, unlike some cases in the military purge, where individuals believed to be close to Xi Jinping (such as Miao Hua and He Weidong) were targeted.
Zhang Tianliang analyzed, “Xi Jinping has a distinct characteristic that his authoritarian rule demands that everyone must be loyal to him like slaves, without any other thoughts except loyalty to Xi Jinping.” He believes that Xi Jinping pursues absolute personal loyalty, to the extent that any consideration of personal interests by officials is seen as a manifestation of insufficient loyalty to the leader, reaching an extreme level of paranoia.
(Additional reading: This year, 41 mid-level officials are under investigation – experts analyze Xi’s new standards for “anti-corruption”.)