Deng Pufang, the eldest son of former communist leader Deng Xiaoping, recently stepped down from his prominent position in the China Disabled Persons’ Federation (CDPF), marking a significant transition in the leadership.
China observers believe this is a strategic move by Xi Jinping—retaliation against Mr. Deng for indirectly criticizing the paramount leader in a speech five years ago.
The eighth National Congress of the CDPF concluded on the morning of Sept. 20 in Beijing, announcing a new leadership team. Yang Xiaodu, a former member of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Political Bureau and the executive deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), has been appointed as the honorary chair, succeeding Mr. Deng Pufang. This transition marks Mr. Deng’s formal departure from the political stage after presiding over the CDPF for half his life.
Born in 1944, Mr. Deng endured persecution during the Cultural Revolution, resulting in paralysis in his lower limbs. Subsequently, his status ascended with his father’s return to power. In 1984, Mr. Deng assumed the role of vice chair of the China Disabled Persons’ Welfare Foundation, and in 1988, he founded the CDPF.
Leadership changes within the CDPF occur every five years. Mr. Deng served as chair of the Standing Committee for the first four sessions, a span of 20 years. Beginning from the fifth session, Mr. Deng passed the chair position to Zhang Haidi, a paraplegic whom the CCP endorsed. Mr. Deng then took on the role of honorary chair and continued to be reelected for three consecutive sessions. Effectively, since its inception, the CDPF has been under Mr. Deng’s control for 35 years.
While officially categorized as a semi-official organization, the CDPF holds significant importance due to Mr. Deng Pufang’s familial ties. During leadership transitions of the CDPF, most of the CCP’s members from the Politburo Standing Committee actively participate. Moreover, given China’s substantial population of disabled individuals, officially over 85 million as of 2022, the CDPF plays a critical role, positioning it as a key organization within the CCP’s network of group entities.
Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) former Honorary Chair Deng Pufang (L) and Zhang Haidi (R), chairwoman of China Administration of Sports for Persons with Disabilities, at the eighth National Congress of the CDPF in Beijing on Sept. 20, 2023, in a still from news footage released by CCTV. (CCTV/Screenshot via The Epoch Times)
Generational Conflict Between Xi and Deng Families
The tension between the Xi and Deng families allegedly began in 1962 when Mr. Xi’s father, Xi Zhongxun, faced political persecution.
The elder Xi was accused of going against the CCP because he had read “Liu Zhidan,” a controversial historical novel denounced by Mao Zedong. Overnight, Xi Zhongxun was stripped of his position as vice premier of the State Council and endured detention and surveillance for 16 years. According to an op-ed published on Radio Free Asia by Gao Xin, an expert who has conducted extensive research on high-ranking CCP officials, aside from Mao, Deng Xiaoping was one of the accomplices responsible for persecuting Xi Zhongxun.
After the Cultural Revolution, the CCP rectified the wrongdoing toward Xi Zhongxun. Upon resuming political work in 1990, Xi Zhongxun further strained relations with Deng Xiaoping due to his vocal support for the “Law on Protecting Different Opinions” and his advocacy for freedom of speech following the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Consequently, Xi Zhongxun was forced to retire early and move to southern Guangdong Province. Then, he returned to Beijing in 1999, two years following Deng Xiaoping’s death.
When Mr. Xi Jinping took power in 2012, the tensions escalated as his administration dismantled the Deng family’s financial empire, Anbang Insurance Group, which held assets exceeding 2 trillion yuan (about $290 billion).
In May 2018, Wu Xiaohui, Deng Xiaoping’s grandson-in-law and founder of Anbang Group, was sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of fraud and embezzlement worth more than $12 billion. His assets, totaling 10.5 billion yuan (about $1.5 billion), were confiscated, and he was ordered to repay illegally obtained gains amounting to 75.2 billion yuan (about $10.9 billion). Although Mr. Wu and his wife, Deng Zhuorui, got a divorce, the Deng family continues to be implicated.
Ideological Contradictions Between Xi and Deng
Deng Xiaoping’s most enduring political legacy was the “reform and opening-up” policy, a pivotal response to the crisis faced by the CCP regime following the Cultural Revolution. Deng sought to usher in a capitalist market economy while preserving the political system, adopting a strategy of “keeping a low profile and biding one’s time.”
However, under Mr. Xi Jinping, the political direction shifted to the left. He introduced concepts like “major-country diplomacy” and “major country responsibilities.” He also had hegemonic ambitions under the CCP’s vision of the “rise of the East and fall of the West,” aggressively expanding China’s global influence through projects, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, starkly contrasting Deng Xiaoping’s approach of maintaining a low profile on the international stage. Mr. Xi gradually downplayed the importance of “reform and opening up,” notably omitting it from his New Year’s address in 2022.
Individuals with close ties to Mr. Xi have attested to his ideological alignment with Mao Zedong and his strong communist stance. Professor Yuan Hongbing, a scholar based in Australia who spent eight months as a “drinking buddy” with Mr. Xi in the late 1980s, described a significant conversation he had with the CCP leader in an EpochTV program on June 17. The professor said Mr. Xi asserted that China needed a population of 4 billion to govern the world effectively and spread communism.
Additionally, Mr. Xi rolled back another important political legacy of Deng Xiaoping—the “abolition of lifetime leadership.” In March 2018, China’s rubber-stamp legislature, the National People’s Congress, overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment eliminating term limits on the presidency, enabling Mr. Xi’s indefinite rule. This move marked a departure from Deng’s vision of limiting the concentration of power through term limits.
Xi’s Political Maneuvering
Deng Xiapoing’s descendants disapprove of Mr. Xi’s actions and policies. In September 2018, during the closing ceremony of the seventh National Congress of the CDPF, Mr. Deng Pufang delivered a speech touting the reform and opening up as a “great era” but cautioned against arrogance and belittlement.
Mr. Deng Pufang addressed significant national policies in his speech rather than focusing on the affairs of the disabled population. Dr. Zhang Tianliang, a China observer and political commentator, highlighted in his Chinese language YouTube program on Sept. 22 that Mr. Deng Pufang’s remarks were a veiled criticism of Mr. Xi’s leadership.
Notably, the CDPF’s official website became temporarily unavailable after it published Mr. Deng Pufang’s speech, which China observers widely saw as a warning from Mr. Xi’s faction.
Despite the tensions, Mr. Deng Pufang, owing to his significant familial background as a princeling, continued his position at the CDPF for five more years before stepping down. A “princeling” refers to the children of veteran CCP elites, many of whom hold high offices today. However, Mr. Xi’s strategic move became apparent with the appointment of his close associate, Yang Xiaodu, to the post.
China observer Yue Shan told The Epoch Times that through the appointment of Mr. Yang, Mr. Xi could exert influence over the Deng family. Moreover, Mr. Yue said this move also serves as a warning to Mr. Deng Pufang, suggesting that Mr. Xi could take him down through so-called anti-corruption measures.
