Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s war on corruption has ensnared a record number of high-ranking officials this year, with 56 senior cadres at vice-ministerial level or above being investigated, a tally by the South China Morning Post has found.
That marks a jump of nearly 25 per cent from 2023, when 45 high-ranking officials were subject to graft probes by anti-corruption agency the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, or CCDI.
According to the Post’s analysis, corruption cases involving top party organs and ministries have doubled, while there was also an increase in cases within the aviation and defence industries.
But in 2024 there were fewer corruption cases in the finance sector – a key focus of the campaign last year.
Deng Yuwen, former deputy editor of the Study Times newspaper published by the Central Party School, said more officials were getting caught up in the campaign.
“The anti-corruption net has been cast wider while the mesh is getting smaller – so more are getting caught and fewer can slip through,” he said.
All of this year’s ensnared “tigers” – as the CCDI calls disgraced top-level officials – were from a pool of “centrally managed cadres”, meaning they were at the vice-ministerial level and above. While some were ranked slightly lower, they held key positions in critical sectors.
Taking the count to 56 on Monday was Wu Cunrong, the 61-year-old head of the provincial political advisory body in Shanxi.
The CCDI said Wu had been placed under investigation and was “suspected of serious violations of discipline and law” – a euphemism for corruption. Wu was the party boss of Hefei, capital of Anhui province, in 2011 and became deputy party boss of Chongqing a decade later.
Twelve of the 56 officials detained this year held positions in central Communist Party and state agencies – double the number in 2023, suggesting more of a focus on the top party apparatus and ministries.
Some of the more prominent officials placed under investigation include former justice minister Tang Yijun, agriculture minister Tang Renjian and national sports chief Gou Zhongwen.
In addition to corruption allegations, the three men are also accused of failing to implement the instructions of party leaders and political disloyalty. They are awaiting trial after being kicked out of the party and removed from their public positions.
Deng, who is now an independent political analyst based in the US, said the focus on high-ranking officials from central agencies was consistent with Xi’s instruction to the CCDI during the 2022 party congress.
He said Xi had called on inspectors to “intensify efforts to uproot corruption in sectors with a high concentration of power, funds and resources”.
“The central agencies are at the top echelon of China’s political power structure,” Deng said. “The top officials are surrounded by local governments lobbying for projects, funding or subsidies, or businesspeople wanting approvals or licences.”
One example is the corruption allegations against Xu Ying, who was deputy director of the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration – the powerful agency that controls China’s US$30 billion tobacco market and has sole decision-making power over the lucrative production and distribution chain. Xu was sacked and expelled from the party, and is also awaiting trial.
There was also an increase in the number of cases at non-financial state-owned enterprises in 2024, with six SOE bosses under investigation compared to three last year. Among them is Tan Ruisong, former chairman of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.
Dozens of top and former aviation and defence industry executives have also been placed under investigation in the past year, including Zhu Zhisong, head of Shanghai’s free-trade zone.
Zhu was previously in charge of Shanghai’s aerospace bureau, which serves as a research and development base for rockets and missiles. It followed a corruption investigation into his former deputy at the bureau, Dai Shoulun.
Three senior aerospace and defence executives were also expelled from the nation’s top political advisory body in December last year.
Xi’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign – which has been under way since late 2012 – has also had the military in its sights, a crackdown carried out by the People’s Liberation Army’s anti-graft watchdog. Officials from the PLA Rocket Force that oversees the nuclear arsenal have been a focus since last year.
In the most recent case, Central Military Commission ideology chief Miao Hua was suspended last month and is being investigated for “serious violations of discipline”.
In June, Beijing announced that former defence minister Li Shangfu and his predecessor Wei Fenghe were being investigated for corruption, and that they had been expelled from the party and stripped of their military ranks.
Alfred Wu, an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said Xi was purging both the buyers and sellers in China’s defence industry.
“His military disciplinary inspectors have taken down several top generals, while the CCDI, which oversees the civilian officials, crack down on defence SOEs,” Wu said. “This is the most intensive year for the military crackdown – and there’s no end in sight.”
Deng said SOEs were also in the crosshairs because of their role in Beijing’s push for technological self-reliance and in strategic projects, and also because they are major employers at a time when the economy is struggling.
Four senior state bankers were placed under investigation for corruption this year, compared to eight in 2023. But none of this year’s banking “tigers” are at the top level.
Last year the finance world was shocked by the downfalls of former China Everbright Bank presidents Li Xiaopeng and Tang Shuangning, and former Bank of China president Liu Liange.
This year also saw several rising young political stars caught up in graft probes – Yang Fasen, who was the Qinghai province security chief, Beijing’s deputy mayor Gao Peng, and Tibet’s deputy government head Wang Yong.
This article was first published on SCMP