54 Senior Officials Purged in Xi Jinping’s New Round of Power Redistribution

Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during the opening of the 3rd Session of the 12th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People on March 5, 2015 in Beijing, China.Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

News Analysis

While Xi Jinping’s third term administration will be shaping up in the coming March at the two critical meetings of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—National People’s Congress and the Political Consultative Conference, a vast purge of senior officials has been extending across the country. Experts said the move is part of Xi’s efforts to redistribute power within the party.

The collective purge focused on provincial and municipal officials of the judicial system and government system in the administrative and economic fields, spanning 10 provinces. As of Feb.7 this year, 54 senior officials were arrested or indicted, among which 18 judicial officials were dismissed within five days, according to data by China’s Supreme Procuratorate.

Mostly on economic charges, a common tactic used by the Xi faction in recent years’ infighting.

Current affairs commentator Li Yanming told The Epoch Times on Feb. 2 that a sense of doomsday panic now pervades the Communist Party leadership when Xi’s faction has begun to clean up local dissident forces and, at the same time, lay out and foster the party affiliates.

Xi’s Ruling Crisis

Entering 2023, the Xi regime faces fiercer headwinds from a deteriorating economy, depleted state finances, and soured diplomatic relations with western countries.

In addition, the COVID-19 outbreak had a fatal impact on the Chinese Communist regime, Li said.

COVID infections and demise in China have spiraled out of control due to the CCP’s polarized anti-epidemic policies. The rising death toll, which includes large numbers of elites and regime defenders, also brings Xi into question within the party.

The legitimacy of the Communist regime has been challenged as never before, even by part of cadres. For example, during the White Paper campaign against the Zero-COVID policy late last year, some local officials did not cooperate with the central government and acquiesced to civil protests.

Xi’s ‘Self-Revolution’

On Jan. 31, the CCP magazine Qiushi published Xi’s speech at a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection last year, in which he gave the so-called “self-revolution” as the answer to the question of whether the CCP could remain in power for a long time.

Fear losing power and the CCP’s ruling position, Xi put forward so-called “self-revolution,” which refers to the CCP should revolutionize itself first before waiting for the populace to revolutionize the CCP, “but this is a false thing. How can a regime topple itself?” said China current affair expert Zhang Tianliang, on his YouTube program on Feb.3.

A similar case occurred with Mao Zedong, who had said, “let the people supervise the government” before the CCP seized power. According to Zhang, Mao’s words deceived many people at that time, but the CCP will not remain in power if it is democratic, and it will be taken down if the Chinese people were able to elect.

Therefore, “Xi’s ‘self-revolution’ is merely to intimidate his political opponents within the party,” Zhang said.