Xi's anti-corruption drive began 14 years ago. Why are the purges still going?

## Summary
Why are the purges still going? 1 hour ago Share Save Yvette Tan Singapore Share Save Getty Images Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign has defined his time in power For one whole week, thousands of delegates filed into the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing to attend one of the most important events on the Chinese political calendar. Brown, however, is cautious about the numbers: "To be disciplined covers anything from just being told off, to getting a nasty letter saying don't do this again, right up to getting put in prison and expelled from the party." But every reprimand points to how central this anti-corruption drive has become for Xi. "From the moment he came to power, he has tried to discipline the party," Brown says. Even after the first round of purges in the military more than a decade ago, "ranks and promotions were routinely up for sale, and bribery was rampant", according to Berlin-based think tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics). "It's very hard to deal with [corruption] when you don't have the checks and balances and accountability that you would need to be able to manage the party properly," Brown says. "It has no real external source to kind of keep it in order." Of course that's not how the party sees it. Power, loyalty and legacy "Xi's anti-corruption campaign has always been about both corruption and politics," says Neil Thomas, from the Asia Society Policy Institute. "It is an effort to make the party a more effective governing machine and a cudgel to remove political enemies." Brown describes it as a "kind of corporate clean-out, a management tool - it keeps people on their toes".

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Xi's anti-corruption drive began 14 years ago. Why are the purges still going?
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Yvette Tan
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Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign has defined his time in power
For one whole week, thousands of delegates filed into the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing to attend one of the most important events on the Chinese political calendar.
With Xi Jinping firmly at the helm, the National People's Congress, which concluded on Thursday, is an annual statement on where China is headed - and how it plans to get there.
But absent from the meticulously choreographed proceedings were some of Xi's formerly trusted confidants, and other high-ranking officials - about 100 delegates were not present for the opening session, all swept up in a relentless wave of recent dismissals.
The empty seats tell a different story to the steady, unified governance that Xi and the Chinese Communist Party seek to project.
They are the starkest evidence of Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign which began when he was appointed general secretary of the party in 2012.
More than a decade on, it shows no signs of slowing down. Why?
'It's corruption, pure and simple'
Back in 2012, corruption really was a problem in China.
The Communist Party is a massive institution, with more than 100 million members and millions of officials. "So it's not surprising there are people who will make mistakes or who are corrupt," says Professor Kerry Brown of King's College London.
Still, corruption had become endemic. Officials are not paid very well, Brown explains, and the system is run by "a small political elite with an enormous amount of power".
Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao called corruption a corrosive challenge that would "cost the party the support of the people". So Xi made it his mission to stamp it out.
Getty Images
Thousands of delegates were present at the NPC - but what was more telling were those who weren't
What followed were a slew of shocking arrests. In 2012-2013, an embezzlement and murder scandal
brought down Bo Xilai,
a rising star in the party who was tipped to be Xi's main rival for the top job. In 2014
the man who once headed China's vast security apparatus was arrested
, and two years later,
Hu's top aide was jailed for life for corruption.
From government ministers to village chiefs, no-one has been spared in Xi's campaign against "tigers and flies" - that is, both high-ranking elites and grassroots officials. The result: millions of officials have been disciplined, sacked and even jailed in the last 14 years.
"The surprise is not that people are taking inducements or backhanders, the surprise is that there's people that don't do that… So I think some of these people have been removed because of corruption, pure and simple," Brown said.
In 2025 alone, China's top anti-graft body reported that nearly one million individuals were disciplined. In January this year, 10 "tigers" were taken down, according to state media.
Brown, however, is cautious about the numbers: "To be disciplined covers anything from just being told off, to getting a nasty letter saying don't do this again, right up to getting put in prison and expelled from the party."
But every reprimand points to how central this anti-corruption drive has become for Xi. "From the moment he came to power, he has tried to discipline the party," Brown says.
Getty Images
Bo Xilai (top row, centre) was among several top officials punished for corruption
And he never stopped, partly because graft is hard to root out from the system. Even after the first round of purges in the military more than a decade ago, "ranks and promotions were routinely up for sale, and bribery was rampant", according to Berlin-based think tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies (Merics).
"It's very hard to deal with [corruption] when you don't have the checks and balances and accountability that you would need to be able to manage the party properly," Brown says. "It has no real external source to kind of keep it in order."
Of course that's not how the party sees it. According to state media, "the only reason that new cases keep emerging is because 'the more you dig, the deeper you get'", says Helena Legarda, a researcher at Merics.
But this is not the full story of the purges, which have been driven by a leader exerting ever more control over the party and the country.
Power, loyalty and legacy
"Xi's anti-corruption campaign has always been about both corruption and politics," says Neil Thomas, from the Asia Society Policy Institute.
"It is an effort to make the party a more effective governing machine and a cudgel to remove political enemies."
Brown describes it as a "kind of corporate clean-out, a management tool - it keeps people on their toes".
Under Xi, China has become a global economic force, which has also boosted its geopolitical clout. Billions are being poured into advanced chips, artificial intelligence and renewables - key sectors

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- Why are the purges still going? 1 hour ago Share Save Yvette Tan Singapore Share Save Getty Images Xi's sweeping anti-corruption campaign has defined his time in power For one whole week, thousands of delegates filed into the cavernous Great Hall of the People in Beijing to attend one of the most important events on the Chinese political calendar.
- Power, loyalty and legacy "Xi's anti-corruption campaign has always been about both corruption and politics," says Neil Thomas, from the Asia Society Policy Institute. "It is an effort to make the party a more effective governing machine and a cudgel to remove political enemies." Brown describes it as a "kind of corporate clean-out, a management tool - it keeps people on their toes".
- Some have noted a spike in investigations into sectors just as they benefit from generous government funding - such as tech or military contracts.

### Areas for Consideration
- Why? 'It's corruption, pure and simple' Back in 2012, corruption really was a problem in China.
- Xi's predecessor Hu Jintao called corruption a corrosive challenge that would "cost the party the support of the people".
- Because these are the very areas that Xi, and the top leadership, have designated as critical, corruption linked to them is seen as particularly egregious. "I think the idea from the leadership is that if the party isn't disciplined and if it isn't on message and if it isn't unified, then they're going to go the way of almost all other political parties in the world and be divided and challenged and that's a risk they can't take," Brown says.

### Implications
- The Communist Party is a massive institution, with more than 100 million members and millions of officials. "So it's not surprising there are people who will make mistakes or who are corrupt," says Professor Kerry Brown of King's College London.
- The result: millions of officials have been disciplined, sacked and even jailed in the last 14 years. "The surprise is not that people are taking inducements or backhanders, the surprise is that there's people that don't do that… So I think some of these people have been removed because of corruption, pure and simple," Brown said.
- Power, loyalty and legacy "Xi's anti-corruption campaign has always been about both corruption and politics," says Neil Thomas, from the Asia Society Policy Institute. "It is an effort to make the party a more effective governing machine and a cudgel to remove political enemies." Brown describes it as a "kind of corporate clean-out, a management tool - it keeps people on their toes".
- Billions are being poured into advanced chips, artificial intelligence and renewables - key sectors that will decide Beijing's position in the world and the outcome of its race with the US.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers corruption, party, china topics. Notable strengths include discussion of corruption. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1786.