The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) last year disciplined 983,000 party and government officials, a record high during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) tenure, according to a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB).
The report was sent to the Legislative Yuan ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) scheduled address to a legislative committee tomorrow.
Among those whose titles the CCP revoked last year were eight top researchers, including Liu Cangli (劉倉理), former director of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, the country’s main institution for research, development and testing of nuclear weapons and related technologies, the report showed.
Photo: AFP
The removals might have been linked to the CCP’s sale of military equipment to countries such as Venezuela that have performed poorly in conflict scenarios in the past few years, it said.
Since the beginning of this year, the CCP has investigated many senior officials, including two high-level CCP officials — Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Liu Zhenli (劉振立), chief of the commission’s Joint Staff Department — as well as politburo member Ma Xingrui (馬興瑞), Chongqing Mayor Hu Henghua (胡衡華) and 17 centrally managed cadres, the NSB said.
China’s economic growth slowed each quarter last year, amid weak consumption and negative investment growth, the NSB report showed.
At China’s annual “two sessions” meetings this year, the CCP lowered its economic growth target to 4.5 to 5 percent, reflecting a cautious outlook and placing greater emphasis on expanding domestic demand, it said.
China’s economy was also being affected by US tariffs of about 30 percent, as well as US strikes on China’s strategic partners Venezuela and Iran, affecting the nation’s energy supply security and the deployment of its Belt and Road Initiative, it said.
The US and China have postponed a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Xi, with geopolitical competition between the countries showing no sign of easing and no indications of compromise in economic and trade negotiations, the report said.
As a result, any meeting between Trump and Xi would produce limited results, it said.
However, despite pressures from a domestic economic slowdown, geopolitical competition and other governance risks, China continues to carry out acts of military intimidation, “gray zone” harassment and other forms of hybrid threats against Taiwan, while expanding efforts internationally to weaken Taiwan’s sovereignty in the international community, it said.
The bureau said it would adjust its intelligence collection on China, closely monitor developments and provide early-warning intelligence on threats to Taiwan.
In response to “gray zone” harassment at sea, the bureau would use cross-ministerial coordination mechanisms and international exchanges to share maritime domain awareness technologies and experience, improving shared operational awareness and early-warning response capabilities, it said.
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