According to a report by the China Discipline Inspection and Supervision Daily on Tuesday (27th), in the first three quarters of this year, discipline inspection and supervision organs across the country disciplined a total of 680,000 people, including 105 provincial and ministerial level officials and above, averaging nearly 12 per month; and 3,680 bureau-level officials.
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Data previously released by China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission shows that in 2025, disciplinary inspection and supervision organs nationwide investigated 1.012 million cases and disciplined 983,000 people, including 69 provincial and ministerial-level officials. In the first three quarters of this year alone, the number of provincial and ministerial-level officials disciplined has already increased by 36 compared to the entire previous year, representing an increase of approximately 52%.
More than 100 high-ranking officials were disciplined in nine months.
Mr. Huang, a retired resident of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, told this station in an interview that the central government has repeatedly stated this year that it will maintain a high-pressure deterrent and focus on investigating corruption cases involving both political and economic issues. Many of the officials recently implicated have already retired or been relegated to secondary positions for many years. He believes that the current emphasis on lifelong accountability is somewhat related to the upcoming 21st National Congress of the Communist Party of China next year: "I feel there will be even more in the future, mainly because there were too many political enemies back then."
The report shows that from January to September this year, disciplinary inspection and supervision organs across the country filed 800,000 cases, including 73 provincial and ministerial level officials, 4,203 bureau-level officials, 34,000 county-level officials, and 114,000 township-level officials.
The aforementioned 73 individuals were investigated during the same period, while the 105 individuals were disciplined during the same period. These two figures do not necessarily involve the same group of people. The report did not list the names of these 105 individuals or their specific disciplinary actions.
Commentators suggest the crackdown may expand further.
Political commentator Hu Liren, in an interview with this station, said he expects the CCP's internal investigations to expand further in the last two months of this year. He believes that Xi Jinping's emphasis on comprehensively strengthening Party discipline, in addition to cracking down on corruption, also aims to purge dissenting voices within the Party.
Hu Liren said that a senior official who had long been involved in CCP organizational work revealed to him that this round of crackdowns might involve half of the officials in the CCP system. This station could not independently verify this claim. He described the operation as a large-scale movement within the party: "What does 'comprehensive' mean? It means investigating everyone; no one will be spared."
Rural enterprise personnel account for 70% of disciplinary actions.
Of the 680,000 people disciplined, 28,000 were at the county or department level, 92,000 at the township or section level, 89,000 were general staff, and 467,000 were from rural areas, enterprises, or other sectors. The latter accounted for about 70% of the total.
The report also listed that in the first three quarters of this year, disciplinary inspection and supervision authorities investigated 79,000 current or former village party branch secretaries and village committee directors.
Classified by type of punishment, Party disciplinary actions involved 505,000 people, while administrative punishments involved 222,000 people. The same person can receive both types of punishment simultaneously, resulting in overlap in the number of individuals affected.
The number of petitions and complaints has exceeded three million.
From January to September this year, China's discipline inspection and supervision organs received a total of 3.506 million complaints and reports, of which 847,000 were accusations and denunciations, and handled 2.149 million leads on potential problems.
During the same period, China's discipline inspection and supervision organs criticized, educated, and dealt with 1.385 million people using the "four forms" of discipline enforcement. Among them, talks and reminders, criticism and education accounted for 50.2%, minor punishments and job adjustments accounted for 41%, serious punishments and major job adjustments accounted for 4.7%, and those suspected of crimes and transferred to judicial organs accounted for 4.1%.
The report also stated that the discipline inspection and supervision organs adhered to the principle of "investigating both bribe-givers and bribe-takers," and in the first three quarters, they filed cases against 29,000 bribe-givers and transferred 3,020 people to the procuratorate.
This announcement was released as the Fifth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee was being held in Beijing. According to official media reports, the meeting focused on the issue of comprehensively strengthening Party discipline. On the opening day, Xi Jinping explained the "Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Several Major Issues Concerning Persistently Advancing Comprehensive and Strict Party Governance (Draft for Discussion)" to the plenary session. Previously, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, in discussing the meeting documents, emphasized adhering to the "unwavering principle of strictness."
Mr. Xin, a political observer in Beijing, believes that the Fifth Plenary Session is more like a mobilization order for "comprehensive and strict governance of the Party" issued to the CCP. He said, "The official release of these data, and the fact that the Fifth Plenary Session will review several major issues related to comprehensive and strict governance of the Party, are all paving the way for the personnel arrangements for the top leadership at the 21st National Congress next year."