Chinese officials are increasingly protecting themselves to avoid risks as the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) internal discipline drive expands across various state agencies and systems, according to first-hand accounts recently gathered by the Chinese edition of The Epoch Times.
Several people with contacts inside China told the publication that the campaign—officially framed by the CCP as anti-corruption and discipline enforcement—has broadened into checks on political attitudes, past online speech, overseas ties, and factional relationships.
The individuals who spoke to The Epoch Times provided only their surnames or pseudonyms out of fear of reprisal.
A Beijing political insider surnamed Xin, who currently lives in Europe, said that his contacts in China told him officials are being scrutinized not only for whether their personal income matches their assets but also for past remarks on WeChat and Weibo, two popular Chinese social media platforms.
“They say it is anti-corruption, but in fact they check personal political attitudes,” Xin told the publication. He said officials are being reviewed for whether they made comments over the past three years opposing CCP leader Xi Jinping’s continued rule.
Official disciplinary notices show recent investigations spanning multiple systems and agencies, and the CCP’s own disciplinary organs continue to emphasize political supervision and punishment.
Loyalty Checks
A professor surnamed Zhang, who lives in Australia and has contacts in China, said the recent surge in official takedown notices has left authorities uncertain about whether current or past political ties can still protect them.
Zhang said officials—who once believed that retirement, transfer, or promotion would shield them—now believe that old ties and previous posts can still be scrutinized.
He said Chen Yujian, a Shanghai vice mayor placed under investigation on June 10, had risen during the period when Han Zheng led Shanghai. Zhang said Chen’s case was being read inside officialdom as a warning that officials connected to different political networks may no longer be safe.
China’s top official watchdog, the CCP’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), and the National Commission of Supervision (NCS) announced on June 10 that Chen, a member of the Shanghai municipal government’s party leadership group and a Shanghai vice mayor, was suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and was under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.
The notice did not specify the conduct under investigation.
Radio Free Asia reported that Chen’s past work in Shanghai’s Songjiang district drew renewed attention following the announcement, including questions about prior peer-to-peer (P2P) lending disputes. The official CCDI and NCS notice did not say whether Chen’s case was related to those issues.
The Chinese P2P lending phenomenon emerged around 2006, enabling direct lending between individuals via online platforms and bypassing traditional financial intermediaries.
Self-Protection
A mainland Chinese historian using the pseudonym Feng Cheng told The Epoch Times that local officials are increasingly unwilling to sign documents, meet with private businesses, or handle problems left over from earlier regime administrations.
Feng said that one official who had returned from a CCP school training told him that some local chiefs now worry that visiting another leader’s home or maintaining personal contact could trigger months of scrutiny if that leader later gets into trouble.
Feng said local officialdom has entered a state of avoidance, self-protection, and waiting.
The reluctance described by Feng could affect businesses and residents who depend on local approvals, meetings, land-use decisions, construction clearances, subsidies, and the handling of earlier administrative disputes.
Discipline System Also Targeted
The recent notices have included figures from the CCP’s own inspection and discipline system.
On June 2, the CCDI and the NCS announced that Li Xiaohong, former director of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Inspection Work of the CCP, was suspected of “serious violations of discipline and law” and placed under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.
Li’s former office was part of the CCP’s central inspection apparatus, which has been used under Xi to investigate party and state bodies, state-owned enterprises, financial institutions, universities, and local governments.
On the same day, the CCDI and NCS also announced that at least 10 officials were under investigation, including those from the inspection system, financial institutions, local governments, housing and urban-rural development agencies, and universities, according to Radio Free Asia.
Scale of the Campaign
Official CCDI and NCS data describe the breadth of the party-state discipline system, though the figures are part of the CCP’s own political narrative and do not establish how many cases involved ordinary corruption, political discipline, factional struggle, or other alleged violations.
In January, the CCDI and NCS said discipline and supervisory bodies nationwide opened more than 1 million cases in 2025, including cases involving 115 officials at the provincial or ministerial level or above.
The same notice said party or state disciplinary action was taken against 983,000 people in 2025, including 69 officials at the provincial or ministerial level or above.
For the first quarter of 2026, the CCDI and NCS said discipline and supervisory bodies opened 245,000 cases, including cases involving 30 provincial- or ministerial-level officials.
The first-quarter notice said that party or government disciplinary action was taken against 183,000 people, including officials at the provincial, bureau, county, and township levels, ordinary officials, and individuals in rural areas and in enterprises.
Political Discipline
CCP discipline materials make clear that political obedience is part of the system’s mandate.
A June 4 commentary on the CCDI website called for strengthening political supervision and increasing scrutiny of violations of political discipline. It also said authorities should identify and remove “two-faced people”—a CCP term for officials accused of professing loyalty while acting otherwise.
The Epoch Times previously reported that, according to insiders, more officials were “voluntarily surrendering” to investigators amid pressure from the party discipline system. One insider told the publication that authorities were pressuring suspected officials to confess and disclose misconduct in exchange for potentially lighter treatment.
Feng Chang, the aforementioned mainland Chinese historian, said the pressure is changing how officials behave in routine governance.
“If you go to a leader’s home and that leader gets into trouble, they will investigate your relationship with him for months,” Feng said, recounting what he said he heard from an official. “Now, there are fewer visits.”
Wang Xin contributed to this report.
