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Xinhua: CCP Membership Surpasses 100 Million, Grassroots Party Organizations Reach Full Coverage Nationwide

Xinhua News Agency was authorized to publish statistics on membership in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its suborganizations organizations.

As of December 31, 2024, the total CCP membership reached 100.271 million, a net increase of 1.1 million from the end of 2023. In 2024, the CCP recruited 2.1 million new members.

Currently, the CCP has 5.25 million grassroots organizations, including 306,000 grassroots Party committees, 330,000 general branches, and 4.6 million branches.

  • Local Party Committees:
    There are 3,200 local Party committees nationwide, including 31 provincial-level committees, 397 city (or prefecture) committees, and 2,772 county (or district, or banner) committees.
  • Urban Sub-districts, Townships, Communities, and Village Party Organizations:
    Across the country, Party organizations have been established in 9,160 urban sub-districts, 29,607 townships, 121,270 communities, and 486,326 villages, with a coverage rate exceeding 99.9 percent of China.
  • Party Organizations in Government Agencies, Public Institutions, Enterprises, and Social Organizations:
    There are 800,000 grassroots Party organizations in government agencies, 1.0 million in public institutions, 1.6 million in enterprises, and 183,000 in social organizations, essentially achieving full organizational coverage.

Source: Xinhua, June 30, 2025
http://www.xinhuanet.com/20250630/025d4c05c9294fc185fd70b5bb6af7e6/c.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

CCP Politburo Member Change: Xi’s Confidant Ma Xingrui Replaced By Chen Xiaojiang, Who Has Close Ties to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao

On July 1, 2025, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that Politburo member Ma Xingrui (马兴瑞) would step down as Party Secretary of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and be reassigned (but not announced). Chen Xiaojiang (陈小江), Executive Vice Minister of the CCP United Front Work Department, was appointed as the new Xinjiang Party Secretary.

Ma Xingrui, a key figure in China’s military-industrial sector, was promoted by Xi Jinping and is also a fellow native of Yuncheng City, Shandong Province, the hometown of Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan.

Chen Xiaojiang, born in June 1962, rose through the ranks in the Ministry of Water Resources. He served both the Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and Deputy Secretary of the CCP United Front Work Department before the new appointment.

There were two theories on Chen’s appointment.

1. Chen has deep ties to former CCP head Hu Jintao and former Premier Wen Jiabao.

From 1993 to 1998, Chen served as Editor-in-Chief, President, and Party Secretary of China Water Resources News, under Niu Maosheng (钮茂生), then Minister of Water Resources. Chen was promoted to Executive Deputy Secretary of the Ministry’s Party Committee shortly before Niu’s retirement in September 1998. Niu was Wen Jiabao’s assistant – he worked as Deputy Secretary of the Central State Organs Work Committee (中共中央国家机关工委) from 1990 to 1993 when Wen Jiabao served as Director of the CCP General Office.

From 1998 to 2007, Chen continued as Executive Deputy Secretary of the Ministry’s Party Committee under Minister Wang Shuchen (汪恕诚). Wang was a classmate of Hu Jintao and his wife Liu Yongqing at Tsinghua University, and they often attended class reunions together.

From 2007 to 2018, Chen was under Minister Chen Lei (陈雷). In April 2008, Chen Xiaojiang became Director of the Ministry’s General Office, essentially serving as Chen Lei’s chief aide. Chen served under former Ministers Niu and Wang.

While holding his position in the Ministry of Water Resources, Chen Xiaojiang was assigned to Gansu Province from October 2001 to March 2004, where he successively served as Deputy Secretary-General and Director of the Gansu Provincial Government Office, acting as the chief aide to then-Governor Lu Hao (陆浩). Both Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao had spent key phases of their early political careers in Gansu Province.

2. The CCP needs to use a iron fist to control Xinjiang.

Exiled political analyst Yuan Hongbing pointed out that recent Middle East shifts post a potential threat to Beijing’s control of Xinjiang. The fall of Syria’s Assad regime, partly due to Uyghur-led rebel forces, has prompted these groups to plan their return to Xinjiang for more activities. They even adjusted their strategy to target the CCP’s security forces, avoiding civilian attacks.

Beijing initially appointed Ma Xingrui to focus on economic development to stabilize Xinjiang. Now, facing rising political and security threats, the CCP puts Chen there, for his hardline stance and experience in ethnic affairs and security work.

Sources:
1. Epoch Times, July 2, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/7/2/n14543198.htm
2. Epoch Times, July 3, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/7/3/n14543823.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Heated Discussions on CCP’s New Central Decision-Making Body and Power Shift

Xinhua News Agency reported that on June 30, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo reviewed the Regulations on the Work of Central Party Decision-Making, Deliberation, and Coordination Body (党中央决策议事协调机构工作条例). The meeting emphasized that these bodies are essential for strengthening the Party’s centralized leadership and ensuring key tasks are implemented. The new regulations aim to standardize the Body’s establishment, responsibilities, and operations, emphasizing coordination without replacing other organs and ensuring proper oversight of major national issues.

There were intense discussions on the Internet about why the CCP wants to establish such a new power structure.

One interpretation suggests that similar kinds of bodies have already existed, such as the Central Deepening Reform Commission, Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission, and National Security Commission. They are all tools for Xi Jinping to directly control state ministries, sidelining Premier Li Qiang and reducing the State Council to a mere executor.

Another interpretation is based on the current discussion that Xi is losing power. It views this arrangement as a way to reinstate roles for retired senior leaders like Wen Jiabao. There was a similar setup in the CCP’s history – the former CCP Central Advisory Commission (1982-1992), which allowed retired senior CCP cadres to participate, monitor, or even overrule the leaders (of the younger generation) in decision-making.

Commentator Cai Shenkun suggested on the X platform that this new Body structure bypasses the CCP Politburo and its Standing Committee, concentrating real power into a small group. He was informed that this group includes just one person each from the Party, government, military, and police, but without retired senior leaders – making it even more powerful than the Politburo Standing Committee.

Sources:
1. Xinhua, July 1, 2025
http://www.xinhuanet.com/mrdx/20250701/a555f99077394069b335aecc91f2929e/c.html
2. China News, July 2, 2025
https://news.creaders.net/china/2025/07/02/2887369.html
3. Epoch Times, June 30, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/6/30/n14542067.htm
4. X Platform, July 2, 2025
https://x.com/cskun1989/status/1940612206757826828

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Taliban Cancels Oil Contract with Chinese State-Owned Company

The Taliban-led Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum announced on June 17 the cancellation of its contract with China National Petroleum Corporation Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas Co., Ltd. (referred to as Central Asia Petroleum, locally known as Afchin).

In 2023, the Taliban authorities signed this agreement with Central Asia Petroleum to extract oil in the Amu Darya Basin in northern Afghanistan. It was the first major public resource extraction deal signed by the Afghan government with a foreign company since the Taliban regained power in 2021. According to the agreement, Central Asia Petroleum pledged to invest $150 million in the first year and $540 million over three years. Key terms required the company to build a refinery within Afghanistan and prohibited crude oil exports.

Homayoun Afghan, spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Mines and Petroleum, stated that a joint committee conducted a formal investigation and found that Central Asia Petroleum repeatedly neglected contract implementation and failed to meet its obligations. He revealed that reasons for the termination included the company’s failure to invest as agreed, deficiencies in drilling and exploration at designated oil wells, lack of necessary guarantees, failure to hire Afghan nationals, and negligence in fulfilling social, environmental, and capacity-building responsibilities.

Source: Epoch Times, June 21, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/6/20/n14535662.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Beijing Responds to CIA’s Open Recruitment of Chinese Nationals for Espionage

On May 1, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released Chinese-language videos on Youtube and other social media platforms, openly recruiting Chinese nationals to engage in espionage.

Beijing did not respond to the videos until June 25.

China’s Ministry of State Security said “the two meticulously produced ‘recruitment ads’ are filled with awkward rhetoric and slander,” claiming that they “fully exposed the CIA’s absurd logic in recruiting agents and its hysterical desperation.”

“In recent years, under the strong crackdown by China’s national security agencies and with the active cooperation of the public, the CIA’s intelligence network in China has suffered devastating blows. The Trump administration repeatedly planned to downsize federal agencies, and the CIA was not spared. Facing severe losses of intelligence personnel and a crippled organizational structure, the CIA’s public recruitment efforts are seen as both a desperate publicity stunt and a reckless gamble aimed at covering up its failures and avoiding being discarded in the next round of political reshuffling.”

The article said that the CIA is facing a shrinking budget and “has increasingly leaned on hyping the so-called ‘China threat’ as a lifeline to assert its relevance, vigorously deceiving the U.S. Congress and taxpayers in hopes of securing a larger share of budget allocations.”

The article also stated that “those who are recruited as ‘traitors’ or ‘insiders’ through such public recruitment campaigns will never escape the sharp eyes of China’s national security agencies or the justice of Chinese law. The CIA, likewise, will only sink deeper into its swamp of failure.”

Source: China Daily, June 25, 2025
https://china.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202506/25/WS685b6478a31009d21e5be6e1.html

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations

China Rapidly Expanding Nuclear Arsenal, Projected to Rival U.S. and Russia by 2030

On June 16, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its 2025 Yearbook. There are nine nuclear-armed countries in the world: United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel. Russia remains the world’s largest nuclear power in terms of total military stockpile, with 4,309 warheads. The United States ranks second with 3,700 warheads. China possesses at least 600 nuclear warheads, making it the world’s third-largest nuclear power.

Since 2023, China has been adding about 100 warheads annually, a pace far exceeding that of other countries. At this rate, China could possess 1,600 nuclear warheads by 2035.

The yearbook also noted that, as of January 2025, China had completed or nearly completed construction of approximately 350 new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos across three major desert regions in northern China and three mountainous regions in eastern China. China’s ICBM arsenal buildup plan is to match that of Russia or the United States.

Source: Epoch Times, June 18, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/6/18/n14534239.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Lithuania Confirms All Chinese Diplomats Have Left Amid Ongoing Diplomatic Standoff

According to Lithuania’s national broadcaster LRT, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that no accredited Chinese diplomats remain at the Chinese Embassy in Lithuania. The last Chinese diplomat was denied entry at Vilnius Airport on May 18 due to visa issues and was deported to Istanbul. Lithuanian authorities stated that his diplomatic status had expired and he no longer had immunity.

The diplomatic freeze dates back to 2021 when Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a “Taiwanese Representative Office” in Vilnius, angering Beijing. In response, China downgraded its embassy to a “representative office” and revoked the diplomatic status of Lithuanian diplomats in China, leading to their full withdrawal.

China later tried to send personnel under the downgraded mission, but Lithuania refused to grant accreditation. Some Chinese diplomats remained temporarily using Schengen visa-free access, but now, with all certifications expired, China has resorted to sending diplomats from third countries on short assignments.

Lithuania warned that any unnotified Chinese personnel may be declared “persona non grata.”

Source: Epoch Times, June 17, 2025
https://www.epochtimes.com/gb/25/6/17/n14532979.htm

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China to Send 600 Troops to Russia for Training on How to Counter Western Weapons

The Kyiv Post reported on June 24, citing sources from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Directorate (GUR), that Russia plans to arrange training for about 600 Chinese military personnel at Russian military facilities and bases this year. These Chinese personnel will receive training on how to counter Western weapons, covering areas such as tank operations, artillery, engineering, air defense, and drone warfare. The report did not specify whether the trainees would later join Russian combat units or if the training is purely for exchange purposes.

GUR sources said the Kremlin’s intention is to allow Chinese military personnel to learn from Russia’s combat experience in the Russia-Ukraine war, reflecting Russia’s desire to align with China in jointly confronting the West.

There have been reports and China provides substantial support to Russia on the Ukraine War. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated in May that although China had suspended the supply of drones to Kyiv and other European countries, it continued to provide related equipment to Russia. In mid-April, Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian intelligence showed that China was producing gunpowder, artillery shells, and other materials within Russian territory.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), June 27, 2025
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202506270053.aspx

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military Geo-Strategic Trend