The Chinese Communist Party’s official data on anti-corruption in 2025 was recently disclosed, with Chinese media reporting that among officials at the provincial and ministerial levels who have been investigated or disciplined, 66 individuals had their names undisclosed and their situations unclear.
On January 17, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission released the national anti-corruption data for 2025, revealing that 115 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels were investigated and 69 received disciplinary actions.
According to a report by Caixin website on January 19, statistics from the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission showed that during the same period, 65 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels were investigated and 53 were disciplined; among them, 50 individuals and 16 individuals had their names undisclosed.
The report also mentioned that since July 2023, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission began to disclose the number of investigations and disciplinary actions taken against middle-level officials each quarter. According to official information, in 2024, 73 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels were investigated, and 73 were disciplined; in 2023, 87 middle-level officials were investigated, and 49 officials at the provincial and ministerial levels were disciplined. This indicates that 2025 had the highest number of investigations against middle-level officials since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
It is still unclear what reasons led to the 50 individuals investigated and 16 individuals disciplined but whose names were not disclosed as mentioned by Caixin website. However, it has been previously suggested that there is a trend of “secret handling” within the Chinese Communist Party.
Independent commentator Du Zheng wrote in an article for Taiwan’s Up Media in March last year that in recent years, the Chinese authorities have become less transparent in dealing with high-ranking officials. Many individuals have disappeared after being dismissed, their whereabouts unknown, and many others have been investigated without official notifications. It is reported that they are subjected to “internal handling,” with some even secretly executed.
The article also compared the anti-corruption data of 2024 presented through the report at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection plenum at the beginning of 2025. The data showed that in 2024, 92 middle-level officials were investigated. However, a calculation based on the “review investigation” column on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found that only 58 middle-level officials were investigated, with the remaining 34 possibly being subjected to “internal handling.” On January 8, 2024, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Li Xi reported at the plenum that in 2023, 87 middle-level officials were investigated. However, the review of the “review investigation” column on the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection revealed that only 45 middle-level officials were investigated in 2023, with 42 possibly being “internally handled.”
The article also mentioned the data released by Yang Xiaodu, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, on October 19, 2017, and Xiao Pei, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, on October 17, 2022, concerning the number of members fallen from grace among the Central Committee, alternate members of the Central Committee, and members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. It was found that in the 18th and 19th Central Committee, there were 20 more members who fell from grace whose names were not disclosed, with no official explanation provided.
In November 2024, Xi Jinping’s confidant and member of the Central Military Commission, Miao Hua, was confirmed to have fallen from grace, leading to the investigation of a large number of generals, with the outside world unable to grasp the true situation.
Legal expert Yuan Hongbing, who is in exile overseas, stated in April last year that conscientious individuals within the Chinese Communist system revealed that Miao Hua and his three secretaries had exposed thousands of military officers after being arrested.
Du Zheng believes that from the large number of officials disappearing and potentially being secretly executed, Xi Jinping’s emphasis on “self-revolution” in recent years is actually a form of self-destruction.