February: Nine Ministerial-Level Officials Dismissed, Revealing Three Trends

Dark clouds hang over Tiananmen Square in Beijing. (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

[People News] The Communist Party of China is set to convene the Two Sessions next month, and the personnel positioning battle for 21 is quietly taking place. In February, nine ministerial-level officials were either dismissed or dealt with.

On February 12, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Wang Lixia, the former chairwoman of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region government, had been expelled from the Party and public office. The Communist Party accused her of 'feigning compliance while violating' the directives of the Central Committee, illegally entering private clubs, and exhibiting vanity and hedonism, among other charges.

Wang Lixia was dismissed on August 22, 2025. At that time, insiders revealed that she was suspected of ordering a cover-up regarding the major collapse incident at the Alashan coal mine in 2023. This incident reportedly resulted in over 126 workers being buried alive, but Wang Lixia instructed her subordinate, Chang Zhigang, the head of the Inner Mongolia Emergency Management Department, to report only 35 deaths and promised him a promotion.

There are also reports suggesting that Wang Lixia had an inappropriate relationship with her male subordinate. As the families of over a hundred victims continued to petition in Beijing, senior officials in Zhongnanhai were outraged. Following the dismissal of Chang Zhigang, Wang Lixia ultimately implicated herself.

Before her investigation, Wang Lixia urgently sought assistance from Zhao Leji, the third-ranking official in the Communist Party and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Although Zhao Leji visited Inner Mongolia under the pretext of an inspection, he only stayed for two days before hastily returning to Beijing, clearly unable or unwilling to intervene. After Wang Lixia was taken away, her husband, son, siblings, nephew, and dozens of trusted officials at the bureau level in Inner Mongolia were also dismissed, leading to a continuing domino effect.

As of now, February has seen up to 9 high-ranking officials at the ministerial level or above investigated or dealt with. Analysts note that this round of purges displays a 'production line' operational characteristic, greatly enhancing the efficiency of the clean-up. The purges encompass both the military and the party-government system, signalling an important escalation in power struggles.

The CCP's clean-up reveals three major characteristics.

Analysts describe the authorities' crackdown on officials as resembling a 'slaughterhouse-style production line model': the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) has broadened the scope of investigations, implemented concentrated isolation and questioning, significantly shortened the case handling timeline, and incorporated AI technology to analyse financial and communication data.

Tang Jingyuan, a current affairs commentator based in the United States, remarked in a self-media program that such a high-frequency clean-up indicates that the power struggle within the CCP is ongoing. Some of the officials under investigation were previously viewed as key members of Xi Jinping's faction, suggesting that the purges are no longer confined to traditional rival factions. This pattern is evident from the military's apprehension of Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, to the party-government system's arrests and actions against Yi Lianhong and Wang Lixia. Reports suggest that during the capture of these high-ranking officials, the CCP employed AI technology, facilitating the expansion of personnel coverage and the identification of suspicious targets.

Various sources indicate that the CCDI has adopted artificial intelligence technology to perform big data analysis on officials' bank transactions, communication records, and social networks, enabling a swift assessment of fund flows and relational networks.

Professor Zhang Tianliang from Feitian University believes that the use of such technology has transformed anti-corruption efforts from the traditional 'manual interrogation' model to a 'data-driven' approach, significantly enhancing efficiency. He noted that AI can quickly identify complex financial chains and interpersonal networks, making the clean-up process more systematic.

Tang Jingyuan noted that in the current political structure, anti-corruption efforts "essentially still serve the purpose of restructuring factional power," with technical methods primarily aimed at enhancing execution efficiency.

Since February, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has dealt with over 40 high-ranking officials, including 9 at the ministerial level. This ongoing high-level rectification within the CCP exhibits three main characteristics: first, there is a simultaneous purge within both the military and the party-government system, with an expanded scope; second, the approach to handling cases is becoming more centralised and large-scale; third, technologies such as AI are being introduced to enhance the efficiency of these rectifications.

Many analysts believe that this wave of large-scale purges reflects a trend toward power concentration while also revealing unstable factors within the system. It highlights the power struggle inherent in anti-corruption efforts and indicates that the rectification process has entered a stage of institutionalisation, reflecting a profound crisis of trust.
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