By Chen Jing, Vision Times
On Nov. 30, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) flagship journal “Qiushi” published leader Xi Jinping’s newest political treatise, “To Advance the Party’s Self-Revolution, We Must Achieve Five Further Breakthroughs.” The article’s harsh language, emphasizing “刀刃向内、刮骨疗毒、霹雳手段” (“turning the blade inward, scraping the bone to cure poison, thunderbolt measures”), marks one of Xi’s most aggressive declarations in recent years.
Officially, it reaffirms the need to fortify the CCP’s iron-fisted rule, while confronting internal corruption against growing external pressure. But ironically, each principle also resembles a sword hanging above Xi’s own head — and that of his family, analysts note.
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Why the delay on the speech?
Though the article dates back to June 2025, its release was delayed until late November, just ahead of the Fourth Plenum and in the midst of alarming economic indicators: spiraling local debt, a collapsing property market, and surging unemployment. The timing aligns with ongoing purges in the military and equipment systems and appears designed to signal a new phase of “hardline rectification.”
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Analysts say the message is clear: Xi wants the political system to know “his hand has not softened.” Any official “who pays lip service while defying orders should not blame him for being ruthless,” as one commentator summarized.
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Yet this performative toughness also exposes the fragility of Xi’s authority. The need to constantly reassert dominance suggests growing internal dissatisfaction and deepening cracks in governance.
Since taking office in 2012, Xi has punished more than 4 million Party officials, promoting the campaign as a historic “self-revolution.” But international investigations have repeatedly accused his own family of harboring enormous wealth through opaque networks of investors, offshore companies, and real estate holdings, estimated at over US$1 billion. Chinese authorities label these reports “fake news” and “political smears,” yet leaked documents and intelligence assessments continue to paint a consistent picture.
The ‘anti-corruption’ narrative fails
Xi’s sister Qi Qiaoqiao has long been identified as one of the wealthiest and best-connected members of the family. Reports indicate that in 2012 she held vast assets, including a 50 percent stake in a major Beijing investment firm that was later sold to least 10 corporate holdings across mining and real estate for millions of dollars.
Though she shed some assets in 2014 “for the sake of the family,” she still retains a Hong Kong villa and significant equity stakes worth tens of millions. Analysts believe her access to lucrative state-backed projects reflects the political privilege embedded in the family’s commercial rise.
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Her husband, Deng Jiagui, was linked to offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands that held tens of millions in tech and real estate. While he too sold some holdings in 2014, documents such as the Panama Papers show his offshore structure functioned as a vehicle for tax avoidance and asset concealment. Intelligence updates in 2025 indicate he continues to maintain investments worth several million dollars.
Xi’s daughter, Xi Mingze, remains the least publicly scrutinized, living under a pseudonym following her education at Harvard. Though not directly implicated, questions linger over whether her overseas life is supported by family-controlled funds.
Additional relatives, including Xi’s brother Xi Yuanping and several nieces and nephews, have been associated with mining projects, real estate ventures, and financial investments worth over a billion dollars combined. Despite claims that assets were divested to support Xi’s anti-corruption image, U.S. intelligence assessments as recent as 2024 and 2025 state that the family still holds “substantial commercial interests” indirectly linked to Xi himself.
These contradictions sharpen the irony: Xi denounces corruption while critics argue that his own family benefited from precisely the networks he condemns.
A blade that cuts both ways
Xi insists that “刀刃向内不会损害党的威信，反而提升,” meaning “turning the blade inward does not damage the Party’s prestige, but strengthens it.” Yet the reality resembles political self-harm. The military remains a center of entrenched corruption; the Strategic Support Force became a “disaster zone.”
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The bureaucracy is paralyzed, business leaders are fleeing, youth unemployment has surged, and economic growth is stagnating. Xi’s perpetual purges have created a political environment where only loyalists and opportunists remain, while structural fragility deepens.
The most striking irony is that Xi’s own slogans — “刮骨疗毒” (“scraping the bone to cure poison”) and “刀刃向内” (“turning the blade inward”) — apply as aptly to the allegations surrounding his family as to his political rivals. If the bone keeps being scraped and the blood runs dry, the question becomes: How does the system move forward?
Ultimately, this “self-revolution” may not save the Party — it may push both Xi and the CCP closer to the cliff’s edge.
Editorial note: Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Vision Times.
