China’s Communist Party Expels Politburo Member Amid Widening Purges

Former Xinjiang Party chief Ma Xingrui is the third member to be ousted from the country’s top echelon of power.

Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui attends the Xinjiang delegation meeting during the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing on March 7, 2025. Adek Berry/ AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expelled former Politburo member Ma Xingrui for corruption and abuse of power involving his family, amid turmoil at the top echelons of power.

Ma, 66, was stripped of his Party membership and removed from all public duties following an internal investigation, the Chinese authorities announced on Tuesday.

Once considered a rising star on the Chinese political stage, Ma is now the latest victim of the so-called anti-corruption purge led by Xi Jinping, the Party’s leader.

The far-reaching campaign, which also served to eliminate Xi’s political rivals, has gained fresh momentum in recent years, taking down dozens of senior military officials, including two top generals who were also members of the Politburo.

Ma’s ouster created the third vacancy in the Party’s top decision-making body, a situation unseen in China in decades.

Authorities revealed in April that Ma—who had been absent from public appearances for months—was under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Party’s key anti-graft agency.

The Commission said in a statement on July 14 that Ma “seriously violated political discipline and rules” by condoning his staff’s misconduct and crimes and assisting family members in buying properties below market value.

The agency also accused Ma of using his official position and money to secure sexual favors and for allowing his relatives to use his political influence to score huge financial benefits, creating “rampant” corruption that involved his whole family. The amount of money involved was not disclosed.

The agency said Ma will be prosecuted.

The agency added that the Politburo reviewed and approved a report on the probe into Ma during a meeting on June 30, though it didn’t provide reasons for why Beijing has only now revealed the range of allegations involved in the investigation.

Ma, an aerospace engineer, spent more than a decade working in China’s defense industry. From 2007 to 2013, he led China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., a state-owned conglomerate and a major military supplier.

In late June, Ma was stripped of his seat in the National People’s Congress, the country’s rubber-stamp legislature. Six other senior military officials, holding general or lieutenant general ranks, were also expelled from the Party-controlled body without explanation.

He Weidong (R), second-ranked vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), and Zhang Youxia, first-ranked vice chairman of the CMC, attend the opening ceremony of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on March 4, 2025. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images

The Chinese military is undergoing an unprecedented purge that has sparked questions about Xi’s over-a-decade-long efforts to modernize the People’s Liberation Army. In January, authorities announced that Zhang Youxia, the country’s most senior general, was placed under investigation. Authorities have not offered any explanation for the sudden probe beyond the accusation of serious violation of discipline and law.

Zhang had been a member of the Politburo, which has effectively shrunk from 24 members in 2022 to 21 following Ma’s departure.

The first to be ousted from the key governing body was He Weidong, once China’s second-most senior general, who was expelled from the Party and the military in October 2025.

Ma stepped down as Party chief of the far-western Xinjiang region in July 2025.

Since then, Xinjiang has seen multiple senior Party officials fall from grace, including Zhu Changjie, who had long served in the region’s security apparatus.

Analysts who previously spoke to The Epoch Times suggested that Xi could be using the anti-corruption campaign to cement controls while evading accountability for the repression of Uyghur Muslims in the region.