The Communist Party of China Enters a New Model of Anti-Corruption: Group Annihilation Effect

The Communist Party of China has adopted a new model of anti-corruption known as the group annihilation effect. (People News/AI-generated image)

[People news] Recently, the Communist Party of China has continued to conduct large-scale purges under the guise of anti-corruption efforts. On May 16, Lan Tianli, the chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government, was officially announced to be under investigation. This marks the second provincial-level government head to be investigated by the Communist Party in a month, following the fall of Shanxi Province Governor Jin Xiangjun. In the week prior, four department-level officials in Guangxi had already been dismissed. Experts analyse that this anti-corruption campaign in Guangxi reflects a new model of 'Xi-style anti-corruption,' where local officials may face a 'group annihilation' as a result of one person's arrest.

Media reports indicate that Lan Tianli is the 21st central management cadre publicly reported to be under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection this year, and the fourth ministerial-level official to be dismissed. Rumours regarding Lan Tianli's investigation had been circulating in Guangxi since May 12. His wife and brother, among other close relatives, are also rumoured to be under investigation. The Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily reported that Lan Tianli was taken away in Nanning on May 12 and was absent from an important meeting that day, which attracted public attention.

Public records show that Lan Tianli has long been involved in Guangxi's local political scene, having held positions such as the director of the Autonomous Region's Science and Technology Department, mayor and secretary of Hechi City, and from 2011, he served as the vice chairman of the Autonomous Region and chairman of the Political Consultative Conference. Since 2020, he has held the roles of acting chairman and chairman of the Autonomous Region government. He is a candidate member of the 18th and 19th Central Committees of the Communist Party and a member of the 20th Central Committee.

Notably, just before the announcement of Lan Tianli's investigation, four department-level officials in Guangxi were successively dismissed within a mere six days, from May 9 to 14. The officials involved are: Zhong Hengqin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Qinzhou Municipal Party Committee and Vice Mayor; Li Wenbo, Deputy Secretary of the Political and Legal Committee of the Autonomous Region Party Committee; Wei Yan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Wuzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary; and Pan Liaoting, a member of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of Guangxi Beibu Gulf International Port Group.

This wave of intensive rectification suggests that the authorities are undertaking a systematic purge across various sectors in Guangxi. This cleansing campaign has extended to grassroots institutions and even to the family members of corrupt officials, indicating a comprehensive approach.

Lan Tianli's downfall came just one month after the investigation of Jin Xiangjun, the Governor of Shanxi Province. Jin Xiangjun was announced to be under investigation by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China and the National Supervisory Commission on April 12, making him the first provincial-level government head to be investigated in 2024.

Both Jin Xiangjun and Lan Tianli have had long-standing connections in their political careers with Guangxi. The rapid succession of investigations involving these two provincial-level leaders has led to widespread speculation regarding the networks of interests behind them.

Another official who has fallen from grace at the provincial ministerial level and previously served in Guangxi is Tang Ranjian, whose career also intersects with that of Jin Xiangjun. In July 2024, Tang Ranjian was dismissed while serving as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of the Communist Party of China.

In 2017, Xi Jinping declared that the anti-corruption campaign had achieved "great success." However, during the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2022, he reiterated that the fight against corruption is a "battle that cannot be relaxed for a moment," which essentially contradicts his earlier claim. This highlights that corruption is a malignant tumour that the Communist Party's political system cannot eradicate. Corruption is akin to cancer cells in leukaemia, infiltrating every corner of the ruling system. The Communist Party's officialdom, from the central to local levels, has become thoroughly corrupt, where a single issue can affect the entire system.

According to a report from the Communist Party's anti-corruption supervisory body, the "Central Commission for Discipline Inspection," the number of party members punished for corruption skyrocketed to 889,000 in 2024, a fourfold increase from 182,000 in 2013. This includes 92 officials at the deputy ministerial level or above who were investigated, along with 25,000 officials who voluntarily surrendered, and 91,000 who confessed and expressed remorse. These statistics reveal the profound and extensive nature of corruption within the Communist Party, far beyond what outsiders might imagine. This indicates that the very existence of the Communist Party is the root cause of corruption within its ranks; as long as the Communist Party remains, corruption will persist.

Recently, Chinese affairs expert Zhang Tianliang analysed in the program "Tianliang Shifen" that Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign is exhibiting new characteristics: first, it is delving deeper into local corruption cases, and second, it is implicating the families of officials to recover more corrupt funds. He noted that the investigation into the wife and brother of Lan Tianli (蓝天立) signifies a shift in anti-corruption efforts from merely punishing individual officials to targeting their families, with the aim of uncovering more illegal gains to alleviate fiscal pressures.

Zhang Tianliang further noted that Lan Tianli, Jin Xiangjun, and Tang Renjian are all currently serving in Guangxi, which highlights a notable pattern in Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign: after focusing on a specific region, there is a sustained effort to dig deeper, resulting in a 'group annihilation' effect. He referenced the previous extensive purge within the Rocket Force as an example, explaining that local officials often form a network due to collusion over interests, and when one individual is taken down, it can implicate the entire network, leading to frequent cases of collusion.

According to reports from the Shanghai Observer, experts have identified several reasons for the ongoing corruption issues within the Chinese Communist Party's ranks, including: the absolutism of power, systemic flaws such as a lack of checks and balances, resource monopolisation, and insufficient external oversight and transparency. They generally agree that the inherent problems within the CCP's political system are a key factor making it difficult to eliminate corruption.