China focuses anti-corruption drive on misconduct, highlighting former minister’s conviction

BEIJING - China will focus its

corruption crackdown

on preventing misconduct from escalating into graft, according to state broadcaster CCTV’s documentary series that highlighted the crimes of a disgraced former minister.

Beijing’s “high-pressure campaign” on graft led to many high-profile investigations in 2025, reflecting President Xi Jinping’s unrelenting drive for more than a decade to root out corruption and enforce discipline in the ruling Communist Party.

The first episode of Unwavering In Our Resolve, Unyielding In Our Step aired late on Jan 11, a day before China’s top anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), kicked off its three-day annual meeting.

The video heavily showcased former agriculture minister Tang Renjian who was convicted and sentenced over bribery in September 2024, detailing how he enjoyed lavish banquets, entertainment and benefits for his family as some of the rural projects he was involved in were largely abandoned.

Tang appeared in the video clad in a plain black t-shirt, speaking remorsefully about his actions.

“Whether it was eating and drinking in violation of regulations or having fun, I was constantly thinking about such things at that time. In fact, in the end, it wears down your will,” said Tang, who was given a suspended death sentence after admitting to receiving bribes worth more than 268 million yuan (S$49 million).

The documentary also made examples of an official from central Henan province who died of excessive alcohol consumption after a banquet in March, held against the Communist Party rules, as well as a case of two grassroots officials who took advantage of vulnerabilities in China’s pension fund system to commit embezzlement.

In 2025, revised austerity regulations targeting Communist Party members and public sector workers banned lavish banquets, “white elephant” infrastructure projects, luxurious car fittings and ornamental plants in work meetings.

“We must cut off the chain of interests that spreads from misconduct to corruption and build a work chain to rectify corruption,” a CCDI official said in the video.

Mr Xi in 2025 called corruption “the biggest threat” to China’s Communist Party in a signal that the ruling party would continue tackling the long-running problem entrenched in many strata of Chinese society.

Beijing has maintained a “high-pressure campaign” that has led to probes into high-profile individuals in 2025 ranging from the former securities regulator chief Yi Huiman to former chairman of China Eastern Airlines Liu Shaoyong, as well as nine top military leaders including the country’s No. 2 general He Weidong.

China’s redoubled graft campaign may have led to arrests of many officials, but concerns remain of a lack of sufficiently strong and sustainable institutional arrangements to curb corruption in the long term, said Associate Professor Alfred Wu, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore.

“Although disciplinary committees appear powerful, their limited institutional independence may constrain their ability to effectively address corruption at the local level,” he said.

Independent oversight mechanisms may deliver more enduring success than a campaign-style approach, added Prof Wu. REUTERS