Beijing, 14 March: President Xi Jinping’s long-running anti-corruption campaign continues to reshape China’s political system more than a decade after it began, with millions of officials disciplined and new investigations still emerging across the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Launched in 2012 soon after Xi took power, the campaign promised to target both powerful elites and low-level officials — a strategy famously described as going after “tigers and flies.” Since then, authorities have removed or punished officials at every level of government, from village administrators to senior leaders in Beijing.
The campaign was initially framed as a response to widespread corruption inside the party, which today counts more than 100 million members. Analysts say the combination of vast political authority and relatively modest official salaries created conditions where bribery and influence-peddling became entrenched in parts of the system.
According to Chinese anti-graft authorities, disciplinary actions have affected millions of officials since the drive began. Nearly one million people faced some form of punishment in 2025 alone, ranging from formal warnings to dismissal from the party or imprisonment.
Researchers say the campaign has also become a defining feature of Xi’s leadership style. While many cases involve genuine corruption, experts note that the effort has simultaneously strengthened central control within the party and reinforced expectations of loyalty to the leadership.
“Xi’s anti-corruption campaign has always been about both corruption and politics,” said analyst Neil Thomas, arguing that the drive helps enforce discipline while also sidelining political rivals.
Some experts view the campaign as a necessary effort to stabilise governance in a massive political organisation. Others believe corruption allegations can sometimes serve as a broader tool to address ideological deviation or perceived disloyalty to the party’s direction.
The effort has been particularly visible within the military. Investigations in recent years have removed numerous senior officers from the People’s Liberation Army, where analysts say leadership posts were once vulnerable to bribery and patronage networks.
Studies indicate that more than half of the PLA’s top leadership roles have been affected by disciplinary action during Xi’s tenure. Several senior generals have been dismissed over what authorities described as “serious violations of discipline and law.”
Political observers say control of the military is essential for Xi’s long-term authority. As chairman of the party’s top military body, he has overseen sweeping reforms intended to tighten central command over the armed forces.
Chinese officials insist the campaign remains vital to the party’s survival. Xi himself has warned that corruption poses an existential threat to the ruling system, telling officials that the struggle against graft is one the party “cannot afford to lose.”
For analysts, the persistence of the campaign reflects both the difficulty of eliminating corruption in such a vast political structure and the leadership’s determination to maintain unity and control as China navigates economic pressures and intensifying global competition.
With Xi entering the later years of his third term, observers expect the campaign to continue shaping Chinese politics — reinforcing discipline within the party while ensuring that loyalty to the leadership remains a central requirement for those in power.
