China Confirms Expulsion of 33 Officials, as Xi’s Purge Deepens

What the report says

China’s Communist Party has confirmed the expulsion of 33 officials, signaling a further widening of President Xi Jinping’s campaign to enforce loyalty inside the ruling system as he positions himself for a fourth term. The move is part of a broader political purge that has increasingly targeted senior figures across the party-state apparatus.

Among those removed was Liu Jianchao, a well-known former diplomat. The New York Times identified him as one of the most prominent names in the latest disciplinary action, underscoring that the campaign is reaching beyond lower-level cadres and into more visible political and foreign-policy circles.

The expulsions matter because they highlight both Xi’s continued consolidation of power and the party’s emphasis on discipline and obedience at a sensitive moment in elite politics. While the public snippet does not provide all of the charges or the full list of affected officials, the scale of the action suggests that the purge remains active and consequential within China’s leadership landscape.

More broadly, such party disciplinary campaigns are a recurring feature of Xi’s rule, and they are often presented by authorities as efforts to combat corruption or political disloyalty. In practice, they also reinforce central control and can reshape careers across government and diplomacy.