“Absolute Loyalty” Cannot Be Obtained — CCP Anxiously Takes Down 420,000 Officials

CCP anti-corruption enters a new mode: the “annihilation effect.” (People’s Report graphic)

[People News] The CCP’s anti-corruption agency announced that in the first half of this year, 420,000 officials nationwide were disciplined, including 30 at the provincial and ministerial level. The total number disciplined rose nearly 30% compared with the same period last year. Many commentators believe the CCP’s corruption is systemic, so the more it fights corruption, the more corrupt it becomes. Other experts point out that the CCP’s top leader demands “absolute loyalty” from officials but cannot obtain it, leaving him deeply anxious and resorting to anti-corruption campaigns in an attempt to resolve a political crisis — “already to the point of extreme paranoia.”

420,000 cadres were punished in the first half of the year, and 8 full ministerial-level officials fell

On September 6, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) and the National Supervisory Commission announced that Yi Huiman, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the 14th CPPCC, was under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law.” During Yi’s more than five years as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, a total of 1,908 new IPOs (including six later delisted companies) were issued, raising 2.22 trillion yuan in funds. On average, nearly one new stock is listed every trading day, with daily fundraising exceeding 1 billion yuan. Both the number of IPOs and the fundraising scale during Yi’s tenure far surpassed the combined totals of the previous eight chairmen, earning him the title of “IPO King.” Yi’s predecessor Liu Shiyu had also been investigated.

On September 4, the CCDI announced that Li Wenrong, former deputy director of the Yunnan Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee, was expelled from the Party and public office (“double expelled”) and handed over to judicial authorities. Li had fallen in March while still in office.

On July 22, the CCDI announced that Qi Zhala, a former member of the 14th CPPCC Standing Committee and deputy director of the Agriculture and Rural Committee, was expelled from the Party and public office for “serious violations,” and his case was transferred to judicial authorities.

This year, reports of officials falling due to corruption have continued without pause. Many netizens comment that each announcement of an official being caught only shows there are more and more corrupt officials — the more the CCP fights corruption, the more corrupt it becomes.

According to CCDI statistics released on July 19, in the first half of 2025, discipline inspection and supervision organs nationwide opened 521,000 cases and disciplined 420,000 people, including 30 provincial-ministerial-level cadres. In the first half of 2024, 405,000 cases were opened, 332,000 people disciplined, including 25 provincial-ministerial officials. Compared with last year, both numbers rose significantly — total punishments increasing 26%. So far this year, 41 centrally managed cadres have been investigated, including 8 full ministerial-level officials.

Commentator Du Zheng wrote in Taiwan’s Up Media this May that more than 30 members of the entire CCP Central Committee have already been implicated. State media claimed that this Central Committee was personally vetted by Xi Jinping himself — meaning Xi is the “first person responsible.”

Australia-based scholar Yuan Hongbing recently told Kan Zhongguo that the large-scale purge and rectification of the CCP’s financial and banking system now underway is not only an extension of Xi Jinping’s policy of using power struggles to seize the wealth of rival officials (to fund his secret military and stability maintenance expenses), but also a retaliatory strike against the CCP princeling faction.

A delusional demand for “absolute loyalty”

Reviewing the CCP’s anti-corruption campaigns, an astonishing number of senior officials have already fallen.

According to Epoch Times, since Xi Jinping came to power in November 2012, between the 18th and 19th Party Congresses, fallen senior officials included heavyweight figures such as Zhou Yongkang, Xu Caihou, Guo Boxiong, Ling Jihua, Sun Zhengcai, and Su Rong, along with at least 20 full ministerial-level and 130 vice-ministerial-level officials.

Between the 19th and 20th Party Congresses, fallen officials included 1 vice-national-level, 12 full ministerial-level, and 96 vice-ministerial-level officials. Since the 20th Party Congress, those investigated have included vice-national-level officials Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, at least 20 full ministerial-level, and 99 vice-ministerial-level officials.

In the military system, at least 19 lieutenant generals and 59 major generals have fallen, along with 7 full generals, including Zhang Yang, Miao Hua, Li Yuchao, and Liu Yazhou. The sheer number of purged generals has led outsiders to question whether the CCP’s combat capability has been damaged. Ironically, many of those purged generals were considered Xi Jinping’s own trusted men.

China expert Zhang Tianliang noted in his program Tianliang Shifen that many recently fallen provincial-ministerial officials, such as Liu Jianchao and Wang Lixia, were not part of Xi’s core political base, had no direct political ties to him, and were not aligned with “anti-Xi factions.” This contrasts with the earlier purge of military figures thought to be Xi’s confidants, like Miao Hua and He Weidong.

According to Zhang, “Xi Jinping has a very distinctive trait — his dictatorial rule demands that every person must act like a servant, with no thought beyond absolute loyalty to him.” Even normal considerations of personal interest by officials are seen as proof of insufficient loyalty. As the CCP slogan goes: “If loyalty is not absolute, it is absolutely disloyalty.” Zhang concluded, “Xi Jinping has now reached this extreme level of paranoia.”

Australia-based scholar Yuan Hongbing has also pointed out that the CCP’s sweeping purges of the Party, government, and military — though nominally about corruption or personal misconduct — are in reality political cases. According to him, many princelings and Party insiders “want Xi to step down.” Xi has realised that the absolute loyalty he demands from officials simply does not exist in their hearts, leaving him facing an unprecedented political crisis. Yet, Yuan argues, no matter how Xi struggles, he cannot change the trend of the Communist Party heading toward extinction.

Current affairs commentator Li Linyi believes that at the 20th Party Congress, Xi’s power reached its peak — but the regime he controls is accelerating toward collapse. Today’s escalated anti-corruption drive, coupled with widespread plundering of citizens’ wealth, is closely tied to the CCP’s economic downturn and political crisis. The authorities are scrambling to seize resources in society to guard against sudden political upheaval. △