The four major forces within the Communist Party of China are being cleansed

 Direct translation

Zeng Qinghong may be in trouble, the four major forces are being cleansed

Reporter : Li Yanming / Editor: Li Guangsong / Source: Epoch Times / https://www.aboluowang.com/2025/0618/2234568.html / Image : File Photo

On 13 June 2025, the 120th anniversary of the death of Chen Yun, a veteran of the Chinese Communist Party, was held. Many princelings and second-generation reds attended the meeting, but no one from Jiang Zemin and Zeng Qinghong's families attended, which attracted attention from the outside world. On 14 June 2025, Cai Shenkun, an independent commentator living in the United States, quoted news from Beijing that Zeng Qinghong had been placed under house arrest. 

In response to this, former CCP Political and Legal Committee Secretary Guo Shengkun's former subordinates and senior officials in Guangxi have been successively dismissed recently; Guo Shengkun is not only Zeng Qinghong's fellow villager in Jiangxi, but is also said to be Zeng Qinghong's cousin. Especially after Lan Tianli was dismissed, Guangxi officials made a rare statement emphasizing that "there is no 'iron hat king'", which was accused of alluding to Zeng Qinghong.

During the same period, officials from the Jiangxi Gang, senior executives of the Oil Gang, and former members of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China were intensively dismissed. Signs show that Zeng Qinghong may have become the focus of infighting among the top leaders of the Chinese Communist Party.

Senior officials in Guangxi have been successively dismissed, secretly linked to Zeng Qinghong

On 16 June 2025, the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission of the Communist Party of China announced that Peng Xiaochun, former vice chairman of the Guangxi Autonomous Region CPPCC, was investigated.

Peng Xiaochun and the recently dismissed Guangxi Autonomous Region Government Chairman Lan Tianli and Shanxi Governor Jin Xiangjun had long-term intersections in the Guangxi officialdom. All three were former subordinates of Guo Shengkun, former Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Communist Party of China, when he was in charge of Guangxi.

Guo Shengkun served as Secretary of the Guangxi Party Committee from 2007 to 2012. During this period, Peng Xiaochun was successively promoted to Director of the Policy Research Office of the Guangxi Party Committee, Deputy Secretary-General of the Party Committee, Director of the General Office, and Secretary of the Hezhou Municipal Party Committee. Among them, the position of Director of the Office has always been called the "big housekeeper" of the leader, and the Director of the Policy Research Office of the Party Committee is the number one pen holder.

The officialdom of Guangxi has long been controlled by the Jiang faction. During the period from the 17th to the 20th CPC National Congress, the three secretaries of the Guangxi Party Committee, Guo Shengkun (December 2007-December 2012), Peng Qinghua (December 2012-March 2018), and Lu Xinshe (March 2018-October 2021), were all confidants or old subordinates of Zeng Qinghong, a Jiang faction leader. Among them, Guo Shengkun and Zeng Qinghong are fellow Jiangxi natives, and he is said to be Zeng Qinghong's cousin. Chinese Communist Party merchandise

On 16 May 2025, Lan Tianli, deputy secretary of the Guangxi Autonomous Region Party Committee and chairman of the regional government, was dismissed from office. Subsequently, Yin Ke (net name "Jiang Wangzheng"), an anti-communist Internet celebrity living in Australia, broke the news on the X platform that after Lan Tianli was investigated, Guo Shengkun was interviewed, and the officials promoted by Guo in Guangxi were also interviewed again by the joint investigation team of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

After Lan Tianli was dismissed, the Guangxi Autonomous Region Party Committee made a rare statement, emphasizing that "there is no 'red seal of immunity' and no 'iron hat king'".

Previously, after the fall of former member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China Zhou Yongkang, whenever the internal struggle among the top leaders of the Communist Party of China escalated fiercely, the Communist Party media would hype up harsh words such as "there is no 'iron hat king'", which was accused of alluding to former member of the Standing Committee and Jiang faction leader Zeng Qinghong.

Jiangxi Gang senior official Hong Lihe was reported to have "organized gangs"

At the same time as the Guangxi officialdom was shaken, the Jiangxi Gang forces in Zeng Qinghong's hometown were intensively purged.

On 6 June 2025, the official website of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announced that Hong Lihe, former deputy secretary of the Party Group and deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangxi Provincial People's Congress, was expelled from the party.

Hong Lihe and former member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China and Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Wu Guanzheng are fellow villagers from Yugan, Jiangxi, and the two are also alumni of Yugan No. 1 Middle School (Yugan Middle School). When Wu Guanzheng served as the deputy secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, deputy governor and governor from 1986 to 1995, Hong Lihe had been working in the General Office of the Jiangxi Provincial Government, and was promoted to deputy director and member of the Party Group of the General Office. Chinese Communist Party merchandise

Wu Guanzheng was Zeng Qinghong's fellow villager and confidant. After Jiang Zemin came to power, he was recommended to Jiang by Zeng Qinghong and was able to climb to the peak of power. Both of them are bigwigs of the Jiangxi Gang.

It is worth noting that in the official announcement on Hong Lihe's expulsion from the party, sensitive charges appeared, saying that Hong Lihe "has long been in the party, forming gangs and factions, making irresponsible comments on the major policies of the Party Central Committee, and privately reading books with serious political problems"; the implication of Zeng Qinghong's Jiangxi Gang is obvious.

Just before and after Hong Lihe was expelled from the party, the official website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection quoted the news of the Jiangxi Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and reported that many Jiangxi officials had been dismissed.

On 9 June 2025, Yu Guojie, former first-level inspector of the Xinyu Municipal Government of Jiangxi Province and former secretary of the Party Working Committee of Xinyu High-tech Industrial Development Zone, was investigated.

On 3 June, Wu Jianping, member of the Standing Committee of the Nanchang Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of Jiangxi Province, voluntarily surrendered.

On 30 May, Li Xiaogang, former secretary of the Party Group and former director of the Board of Directors of the Jiangxi Provincial Supply and Marketing Cooperatives Federation, was investigated.

On 29 May, Wu Yunbo, former secretary of the Party Group and director of the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of Pingxiang City, Jiangxi Province, voluntarily surrendered.

On 28 May, Liao Jinqiu, former secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, voluntarily surrendered.

Senior executives of the Oil Gang were investigated one after another

Zeng Qinghong's career started in the CCP oil system and was called the leader of the "Oil Gang". Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the oil system has launched a cleansing storm many times. Recently, several more oil executives have been investigated. 

On 16 June 2025, Xu Zhenong, former deputy general manager of Shanghai Petroleum Branch of Sinopec Sales Co., Ltd., was investigated. On 6 June, Han Fei, former Party Secretary and Executive Director of PetroChina Ningxia Sales Company, was investigated.

Before that, Yuan Guangyu, former member of the Party Leadership Group and Deputy General Manager of CNOOC Group, was investigated on 1 March 2025; Qin Qiangyun, former Deputy General Manager of Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch, was investigated on 19 March 2025; Xi Lixin, former Deputy General Manager of PetroChina Jidong Oilfield Company, was investigated on 11 April 2025.

Li Chunliang, former member of Zeng Qinghong's Organization Department, was investigated

Zeng Qinghong, as the chief steward and top confidant of former CCP leader Jiang Zemin, manipulated the CCP's senior personnel for a long time during Jiang Zemin's reign and intervention in politics, and directly served as the Minister of the Organization Department of the CCP from March 1999 to October 2002.

On 2 April 2025, the CCP officially confirmed that the positions of Politburo members Shi Taifeng and Li Ganjie were swapped, with Shi Taifeng serving as the Minister of the Organization Department of the CCP and Li Ganjie as the Minister of the United Front Work Department of the CCP. Before and after this, many senior executives of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee were either transferred or investigated. 

It is worth noting that Li Chunliang, a deputy ministerial-level senior official, former member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy director of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, who was dismissed on May 13, 2025, is an old subordinate of Zeng Qinghong in the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and once served in the Organization Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, Zeng Qinghong's hometown.

Li Chunliang served in the Second Artillery Corps, the predecessor of the Chinese Rocket Force, and served in the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee after retiring. During Zeng Qinghong's tenure as Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Chunliang served as a deputy division-level researcher of the Local Cadre Bureau (Cadre Bureau II) of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, a division-level researcher and deputy director of the Office of the Cadre Bureau II of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, and director of the Second Division. Chinese Communist Party merchandise

Li Chunliang was parachuted from deputy director of the Second Bureau of Cadres of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee to deputy director of the Organization Department of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee in August 2008, and later served as director of the Veteran Cadres Bureau of the Provincial Party Committee; the then Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee was Su Rong. Su Rong was Zeng Qinghong's confidant. He was dismissed from his post as vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in June 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2017.

Li Chunliang returned to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee in September 2011 as inspector and deputy director of the Second Bureau of Cadres of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee. During the period when Jiang faction leader Zhao Leji served as Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, Li Chunliang was promoted to director of the Fourth Bureau of Cadres of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee in May 2013; in December 2016, he was appointed deputy director and member of the Party Leadership Group of the State Forestry Administration, and was promoted to the vice-ministerial level; later he served as member of the Party Leadership Group, deputy director and director of the Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, until he stepped down in March 2023 when he turned 60.

Conclusion

Since the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee in July 2024, the political situation of the CPC has been abnormal, and the leader of the CPC, Xi Jinping, is in a health and power crisis.

At the end of May 2025, The Epoch Times learned from an authoritative source that Xi Jinping had begun to lose power in April 2024. Xi is still on the stage on the surface, but in fact, the general trend is gone. The CPC veteran Wen Jiabao and the first vice chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Youxia have become the key factors that influence the political situation in China.

On the eve of the sensitive day of "June 10", on 9 June 2025, Gao Yichen, former deputy minister of the Ministry of State Security of the CPC and deputy director of the Central "610" Office, was dismissed. Gao Yichen had long served as deputy to Xu Yongyue, then deputy head of the "610" Leading Group of the CPC Central Committee and Minister of State Security, and Liu Jing, director of the "610" Office of the CPC Central Committee. Xu Yongyue and Liu Jing are both second-generation reds of the CPC, and they are both close to the former leader of the CPC, Jiang Zemin. They are the planners, commanders, and implementers of the CPC's genocidal persecution against Falun Gong. Liu Jing is also one of the "four main culprits" in the persecution of Falun Gong. 

During the same period, senior officials of Zeng Qinghong's Guangxi and Jiangxi gangs, senior executives of the oil gang, and former members of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee were sacked one after another. The official rarely mentioned that "there is no 'red book and iron certificate' for immunity, and there is no 'iron hat king'", and reported that senior officials of the Jiangxi gang "formed gangs", which clearly implied Zeng Qinghong.

Signs show that with Xi Jinping's loss of power, the internal struggle of the top leaders of the Communist Party of China has continued to escalate, and sensitive movements have appeared in Zhongnanhai. Whether there will be vice-state-level senior officials or even "iron hat kings" at the level of the Standing Committee of the State Council before and after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee will be an important weather vane and new focus of the internal struggle of the top leaders of the Communist Party of China.