Five Major Decision-Making Errors of the Chinese Communist Party in 2025

Five Major Decision-Making Errors of the Chinese Communist Party in 2025

[People News] The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) once took down a book titled Chongzhen: The Diligent Emperor Who Lost His Country. The reason was that there was an advertising line on the book cover: “Blunder after blunder, mistake at every step; the more ‘diligent in governance,’ the faster the country perishes.” This slogan was considered to be an implicit jab at CCP leaders.

As 2025 is about to come to an end, has the CCP been making “brilliant moves one after another, getting every step right, and becoming more prosperous the more ‘diligent’ it is in governance”? Not at all. Recently, many people have taken stock of and analyzed the CCP’s domestic and foreign policies in 2025. Here, I also offer a year-end summary on the topic of “Five Major Decision-Making Errors of the CCP in 2025.”

First: “Making enemies” up to 849 people—Which senior CCP official is not in danger?

In 2025, the CCP’s anti-corruption campaign produced no new, brilliant, or clever tactics. It continued to carry out round after round of purges through “black-box operations.”

Based on data from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, I made a preliminary tally of the centrally managed officials purged during Xi Jinping’s 13 years in power: as of December 28, 2025, the Xi authorities had investigated and dealt with a total of 849 centrally managed officials.

From 2012 to 2022, that is, from the CCP’s 18th National Congress to before the 20th National Congress, the Xi authorities dealt with 553 centrally managed officials; from October to December 2022, 7 people; in 2023, 87 people; in 2024, 92 people; and in 2025, 110 people. Adding these four figures together gives 849 people.

So-called “centrally managed officials” are those appointed and removed by the CCP Central Committee, including officials at the provincial and ministerial level and above, as well as some at the departmental and bureau level.

Why do I say in this subheading that Xi has “made enemies” up to 849 people?

Because the Xi authorities’ anti-corruption campaign is not genuine anti-corruption, but rather the use of anti-corruption as a tool for political struggle. During Xi’s first five-year term, 440 centrally managed officials were investigated, most of whom had been promoted and favored by former CCP dictator Jiang Zemin. Looking at the list of those 440 people, it can be said that Jiang was the biggest backstage supporter of the most serious corrupt elements at the highest levels of the CCP’s Party, government, and military at that time. When Jiang was in power or acting as the “paramount leader,” he also indulged his son Jiang Mianheng, allowing him to advance in official rank while engaging in business. The Jiang Zemin family has been regarded as the CCP’s number one corrupt family. Yet Xi not only did not arrest Jiang Zemin, but after Jiang’s death, he even lavished him with nauseating praise.

The result of Xi’s leniency toward Jiang and his family was that Xi did not touch the systems, mechanisms, and legal frameworks that had led to rampant corruption during Jiang’s rule or “paramount leadership.” Precisely because of this, after Xi investigated CCP Politburo members and Central Military Commission vice chairmen Xu Caihou and Guo Boxiong—both promoted by Jiang—officials personally promoted by Xi himself, such as Politburo member and Central Military Commission vice chairman He Weidong, and Central Military Commission member and director of the Political Work Department Miao Hua, were even more corrupt than Xu and Guo.

This kind of anti-corruption campaign under the Xi authorities neither addresses the symptoms nor the root causes, and it produces two results: first, it buys some officials’ verbal loyalty and cultivates more “two-faced people”; second, it creates batch after batch of enemies.

In 13 years, the Xi authorities have taken down 849 “tigers,” which is equivalent to making 849 enemies. And that is not all. Their family members, children, relatives, friends, and backstage supporters all harbor deep hatred toward those who investigated them.

After 13 years of anti-corruption and tiger-hunting, the Xi authorities have already reached people close to Xi himself. If this continues, what will the outcome be?

The answer is: no one is safe.

Second: Continuing to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—The CCP is despised both inside and out

In 2025, the CCP not only failed to change its stance on the Russia–Ukraine war, but continued to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The most prominent manifestation of this was that at the September 3 grand military parade commemorating China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the CCP invited Russian President Vladimir Putin—who invaded Ukraine—and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un—who sent troops to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—to attend.

On July 2, 2025, in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, CCP Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during a four-hour meeting with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, suddenly blurted out: “China (the CCP) does not want to see Russia fail in Ukraine,” “because it does not want the United States to shift all its attention to China (the CCP).”

It turns out that the CCP’s starting point and end goal regarding the Russia–Ukraine war are neither the gains and losses of the Russian people, nor the life and death of the Ukrainian people, nor the threats faced by the people of the EU’s 27 countries, but rather the CCP’s own calculations. The CCP hopes the Russia–Ukraine war will continue—no matter how long it lasts, no matter how many people die—as long as it can tie down what the CCP regards as its greatest enemy, the United States, and prevent Washington from focusing all its attention on the CCP.

The CCP’s motivation for continuing to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is extremely selfish, and its errors are at least threefold. First, it runs counter to the positions of the EU, NATO, and the majority of countries at the United Nations. Second, it is a betrayal of Ukraine. On February 11, 2015, the CCP’s Global Times published an article titled “Twenty Years of China–Ukraine Military Cooperation: Without Ukraine, There Would Be No New Achievements in China’s National Defense.” Third, it is a betrayal of the Chinese people, who have suffered from invasion since modern times.

Third: Continuing extreme pressure on Taiwan—The CCP harms others and ultimately itself

In 2025, the CCP continued to apply all-round extreme pressure on Taiwan—militarily, economically, politically, culturally, and diplomatically.

For example, CCP military exercises from the Bohai Sea to the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the South China Sea have become increasingly frequent and intense. According to statistics, from January to November, there were 4,976 sorties of CCP military aircraft harassing Taiwan and 2,500 sorties of CCP naval vessels doing the same.

On October 28, the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a police notice deciding to open a case against Taiwanese legislator Shen Boyang. The real reason is that Shen Boyang understands the CCP’s “overt schemes” and “covert plots” all too well.

On November 13, the Quanzhou Public Security Bureau in Fujian Province issued reward notices against Taiwanese internet celebrities “Ba Jiong” Wen Ziyu and “Minnan Wolf” Chen Boyuan, who exposed the CCP’s united front operations, offering rewards ranging from 50,000 to 250,000 yuan for “effective leads.”

The CCP’s united front infiltration of Taiwan is pervasive, including bribing Taiwanese to act as CCP spies; inviting Taiwanese village chiefs, neighborhood heads, elected representatives, civic group representatives, and religious groups to visit mainland China; providing benefits to various united front targets; and luring Taiwanese businesspeople and young people into “cross-strait integration,” among other tactics.

The CCP’s pretext for applying extreme pressure on Taiwan is its so-called “anti–Taiwan independence.”

The CCP’s “anti–Taiwan independence” is a false proposition. The whole world now knows that the CCP is the largest traitorous party in the world. When the world’s largest traitorous party talks about “anti–Taiwan independence,” “patriotism,” and “safeguarding national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and security,” is that not the biggest joke imaginable?

The real reasons behind the CCP’s extreme pressure on Taiwan are threefold. First, Taiwan’s freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law stand in stark contrast to the CCP’s autocracy, dictatorship, totalitarianism, and lawlessness; Taiwan’s success makes the CCP deeply resentful. Second, the CCP seeks to break through the first island chain—led by the United States—that prevents the expansion of communism, thereby posing a near-term threat to U.S. allies such as Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea, and a long-term threat to the U.S. mainland, in pursuit of its ambition to dominate the world. Third, it uses Taiwan as a “punching bag” to divert Chinese public dissatisfaction with the CCP.

What ordinary Chinese people care about most is not unifying Taiwan, but the most pressing real-life problems they face every day—difficulty in getting married, difficulty in having children, difficulty in schooling, difficulty in housing, difficulty in medical care, difficulty in elder care, and so on. What benefit does the CCP’s constant spending and saber-rattling in the Taiwan Strait bring to ordinary Chinese people?

For the 23 million people of Taiwan, who long ago obtained “freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom from fear, and freedom from want,” if the CCP were not constantly stirring up trouble in the Taiwan Strait, the island of Taiwan would almost be a “paradise on earth.” The result of CCP “unification” of Taiwan would inevitably be the deprivation of all “four freedoms” enjoyed by the Taiwanese people. What benefit would that bring to them?

The core of the Taiwan issue is not “unification” versus “independence,” but the direction of people’s hearts—whether they turn toward or away. The CCP’s extreme pressure on Taiwan will only cause it to lose popular support.

Fourth: Putting Jimmy Lai on trial—The CCP exposes its own ugliness

The year 2025 marked the fifth year since the CCP forcibly imposed the “Hong Kong National Security Law,” prematurely ended “one country, two systems” 27 years early, and replaced it with “one-party dictatorship.”

That year, the CCP staged a “political trial” in Hong Kong—the trial of renowned media tycoon Jimmy Lai.

On December 15, 2025, the Hong Kong High Court ruled that Jimmy Lai, founder of Next Digital Group, was guilty on all three charges: two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign or external forces to endanger national security,” and one count of “conspiracy to publish seditious publications.”

Jimmy Lai has consistently denied these charges, saying that he was merely fighting for Hong Kong’s core values—“the rule of law, freedom, the pursuit of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of assembly.”

Now 78 years old, Jimmy Lai was first arrested in August 2020 and has been held in custody since December of that year, for more than five years to date. Under the “Hong Kong National Security Law,” the crime of “colluding with foreign forces” can carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Jimmy Lai often said that he owed Hong Kong. Why? This is closely related to the suffering he experienced under CCP rule and the freedom Hong Kong gave him in return.

Jimmy Lai was born in 1948 in Guangzhou into a wealthy family. After the CCP took power, his family fell into hardship: his father fled to Hong Kong, while his mother was arrested by the CCP and subjected to struggle sessions.

Decades later, he wrote that he and his sisters were dragged out and forced to stand in a crowd watching their mother kneel, as she was insulted, mocked, and ridiculed—cruel public humiliation quickly became routine. The first time he stood there, he wrote, he was terrified: “Tears streamed down my face, soaking the front of my clothes, yet I dared not move at all. At that moment, I felt so ashamed that my insides were burning.”

Yet his grandmother never yielded. Every time she told stories, she ended with the same line: “Even selling fermented bean curd peanuts, you must still be the boss.”

In 1959, 12-year-old Jimmy Lai fled to Hong Kong with just one Hong Kong dollar and his grandmother’s exhortation. Starting from nothing, he forged a path from rags to riches: founding his first company at 27; establishing the Giordano clothing chain at 33; founding Next Magazine at 42; and founding Apple Daily at 47, becoming a renowned media figure, entrepreneur, and social activist in Hong Kong.

He said: “When I came here, I had nothing. Everything I have is because of this place. This place gave me freedom, and I will devote my entire life to freedom.”

Hong Kong’s capitalist system, separation of powers, judicial independence, freedom of speech, and extensive connections with the free world allowed him to find dignity, value, and meaning in being human.

However, after the CCP took over Hong Kong in 1997, its freedoms were eroded step by step, breaking his heart. He resolutely joined the ranks of those fighting for freedom.

In 2019, Hong Kong saw the largest mass protest movement in its history—the anti–extradition movement. Jimmy Lai actively participated.

The anti–extradition movement opposed the CCP-controlled Hong Kong government’s attempt to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance, which would have allowed suspects to be sent from Hong Kong to mainland China for trial. At the time, Jimmy Lai and many Hong Kong people feared that once sent to the mainland, such individuals could “disappear” and have no human rights protection.

Six years later, looking back, the concerns of Jimmy Lai and many Hong Kong people were completely justified. In today’s CCP-ruled mainland China, not only ordinary citizens such as Peng Zaizhou, and famous lawyers such as Gao Zhisheng, but also high-ranking officials within the CCP system—such as Liu Yazhou, former political commissar of the National Defense University, former son-in-law of ex-CCP chairman Li Xiannian, and an Air Force general—have all “disappeared” after being arrested by the authorities.

What the Hong Kong anti–extradition movement fought for was not only the human rights of Hong Kong people, but also the human rights of today’s high-ranking CCP officials on the mainland.

However, the CCP slapped frightening labels such as “anti-China chaos in Hong Kong” and “subversion of state power” on the movement and crushed it with violence.

All prominent figures who supported the anti–extradition movement, including Jimmy Lai, became thorns in the CCP’s side.

Jimmy Lai is a British citizen. He could have left Hong Kong before the CCP arrested him, and he fully understood how the CCP would treat him after arrest. Yet he refused to leave.

He did this as an act of “martyrdom.”

For Hong Kong’s freedom, he would rather sacrifice his own freedom and even his life, so that the people of Hong Kong, the mainland, Taiwan, and all people of conscience around the world could see clearly what the CCP really is.

The CCP’s trial of Jimmy Lai is, in fact, the CCP itself proclaiming to the world: under CCP rule, there is no freedom of the press, no freedom of speech, and no judicial independence. Anyone who dares to speak the truth could become the next Jimmy Lai.

Arresting, imprisoning, trying, and convicting an almost 80-year-old billionaire who could have fled—what kind of “ability” is that?

Fifth: Rampant transnational repression—The CCP faces international encirclement

The year 2025 was a year in which the CCP carried out rampant transnational repression against Falun Gong.

According to statistics from the Falun Dafa Information Center, from March 2024 to October 16, 2025, there were 193 anonymous death threat incidents targeting Falun Gong practitioners or impersonating them, most of which involved Shen Yun Performing Arts, Falun Gong practitioners, and even U.S. police officers, legislators, and FBI agents who support Falun Gong.

After the documentary State Organs, which exposes the CCP’s live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners, was screened in Taiwan, Guan Jianzhong, head of Lion Films, which distributed the film, reported that by the end of September 2025 he had received at least 120 cross-border death threats.

Why did the CCP’s overseas transnational repression against Falun Gong reach an almost frenzied level in 2025?

Because after mobilizing the entire state apparatus to persecute Falun Gong for more than 26 years, the CCP not only failed to defeat Falun Gong, but instead saw it spread further to 156 countries and regions worldwide.

Founded in New York in 2006 by Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun Performing Arts has grown from one troupe into eight, touring more than 200 top theaters in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Australia, staging over 8,200 performances with more than 12 million audience members. It has won high praise and full recognition from mainstream figures worldwide, including outstanding artists, becoming a veritable “world’s number one show.”

All the lies the CCP has spread for 26 years to smear, attack, and vilify Falun Gong have collapsed of their own accord.

In particular, the CCP’s large-scale live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners is its Achilles’ heel. The “blood-debt gang” responsible for persecuting Falun Gong most fears that their crimes of “genocide,” “torture,” and “crimes against humanity” will be brought to account, leaving them in a state of desperate struggle.

The anonymous death threats issued by the CCP against Falun Gong practitioners, Shen Yun Performing Arts, and the film State Organs are not signs of the CCP’s strength, but of its evil, weakness, and incompetence—and they only provoke disgust, revulsion, and contempt.

On February 7, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department condemned the CCP and its agents for intimidating Shen Yun Performing Arts and called for the protection of freedom of expression: “We condemn these acts of intimidation and urge the protection of freedom of speech. We urge the CCP to end its 25-year campaign of extermination against Falun Gong.”

On December 10, International Human Rights Day, 65 Canadian Members of Parliament signed a joint statement strongly condemning the CCP’s 26-year-long persecution of Falun Gong and its transnational repression.

On June 17, 2025, the leaders of the Group of Seven issued a joint statement condemning transnational repression, viewing it as a threat to individual rights and national sovereignty.

Conclusion

Why did the CCP commit the above five major decision-making errors in 2025?

The answer lies in the CCP’s persecution of Falun Gong. Falun Gong’s core principles are “Truthfulness, Compassion, Forbearance.” The CCP’s more than 26 years of continuous persecution of Falun Gong amount to more than 26 years of promoting “falsehood, evil, and struggle” at home and abroad.

“Falsehood, evil, and struggle” are the ultimate source of all the CCP’s decision-making errors.

(Source: The Dajiyuan)
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