In the first week of 2024, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) purged eight senior Party officials, claiming it was part of their “anti-corruption” efforts.”
China’s state media said that the regime will continue expanding its corruption crackdown.
This means that Chinese leader Xi Jinping might use more aggressive tactics against those who oppose him, bringing more instability to China.
The positions of the eight officials under investigation range from top state-backed bank, energy, and insurance company executives to government officials in Tibet and other regions.
Among them, Tibet government official Jiang Jie, Tai Ping Insurance executive Xiao Xing, and Guangdong government official Chen Jixing were accused of being “disloyal and dishonest” to the CCP in official publications. The exact details of those allegations remain unclear.
Purging Opponents
U.S.-based China current affairs commentator Lu Tianming told The Epoch Times on Jan. 11 that Xi’s recent crackdown efforts aim to purge all his opponents within the Party.Mr. Lu said that in the CCP’s discourse, the so-called “strict governance” is not from a legal standpoint but from a political one, which means that if Xi thinks that people are disloyal to him, he will take action to eliminate them or crack down on them.
“Therefore, more regime officials will definitely be purged next, but this is just an internal political struggle,” Mr. Lu said.
Lai Jianping, a former lawyer from Beijing and chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China in Canada, also told The Epoch Times that Xi’s intensification of his purges is an inevitable trend since he is a dictator.
His behavior over the years has led China into a full-blown political, economic, and social crisis, and there are a lot of grievances and strong opinions against him within the CCP, Mr. Lai said.
Under these circumstances, his dictatorship is under threat, and to overcome the crisis, he can only carry out selective so-called “anti-corruption” campaigns to purge certain regime officials, he said.
“Thus, Xi Jinping consolidates his personal power by purging officials within the regime,” said Mr. Lai. “However, these officials and their families will be extremely dissatisfied with the purge, which will create tremendous pressure for a backlash, and the whole situation will only lead to a deadly and vicious cycle.
“Therefore, CCP officialdom will become even more bloody in the future. The seriousness of the purge will be further intensified, and more officials will fall, which is a trend I predict in the future.”
Mr. Lu believes that officials within the regime will also not give up on their interests easily and that they will fight back, which will escalate their dissatisfaction with Xi.
Xi Purges Chinese Military
The Chinese military has been undergoing an internal purge, and Xi’s continued purge of the military has attracted widespread attention.On Jan.5, an article in the CCP’s main military newspaper, People’s Liberation Army Daily, claimed that the military’s anti-corruption campaign has “achieved an overwhelming victory” and that “the results of the anti-corruption campaign will continue to be seen.”
According to official reports, at least 10 senior military generals and leaders have been purged in the past six months, but the authorities have never disclosed the reasons for this.
The CCP’s official announcement did not give any reason for their dismissal. On the same day, the CCP also announced the appointment of former navy commander Dong Jun as China’s new defense minister, replacing former defense minister Li Shangfu, who had disappeared from the public eye in August of last year.
U.S.-based China current affairs commentator Chen Pokong told The Epoch Times in an earlier interview that the generals announced were those who served in the CCP’s National People’s Congress and that others unaffiliated with the NPC had not yet been made known.
He also said that the current situation in the Chinese military is very complicated and that no military branch is truly loyal to Xi, nor can any generals be seen to be truly loyal to him, so it is clear that there is a split in the military.
“The CCP is testing the waters of the Cultural Revolution by gathering young people and shouting slogans of the Revolution,” said Mr. Chen.
Anti-Xi forces are widespread not only in the military but also among some of the CCP’s elites.
In a recent interview with Epoch Times, Yuan Hongbing, a former Chinese law professor living in Australia, said that a group of “princelings,” represented by Liu Yuan, the son of former CCP President Liu Shaoqi, have formed a consensus against Xi’s dictatorship.
Mr. Yuan said, “Xi’s high-profile commemoration of Mao Zedong, the former leader of the CCP, and his permission for Maoist leftists to hold a rally in Mao’s hometown of Shaoshan, Hunan Province, is actually a warning to those who oppose him that if they continue to do so, Xi may once again use the same tactics Mao used to launch the Cultural Revolution.”
Cultural Revolution Approach
Lu Tianming commented on Xi’s radical approach, “On the one hand, he will continue to intensify his efforts to purge the Party through the so-called ‘strict governance,’ and on the other hand, he is preparing for the Cultural Revolution to purge the population.”“Why?” Asked Mr. Lu rhetorically. “It’s because Xi Jinping thinks that the ‘anti-corruption’ approach is no longer enough to deter these people. Using ‘anti-corruption’ as a justification is necessary to go through some legal formalities, but it only purges those who were directly involved. The Cultural Revolution, however, would be limitless and without any legal restrictions. It was carried out by mobilizing the masses and was, therefore, often amplified. This creates an even greater psychological threat. Moreover, Xi can avoid responsibility and ultimately blame the people who have been incited by the CCP.”
