China has significantly expanded facilities for detaining suspects caught up in President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drag net, according to a new report.
Why It Matters
Analysts have said China’s existing anti-graft crackdown has served as a tool for Xi to eliminate political rivals. Academics have called Xi’s new expanded detention processes “deeply disturbing.”
Xi, now serving an unprecedented third term as president, launched the sweeping anti-corruption campaign after assuming leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. Since then, more than 4,000 Party officials, ranging from low-ranking “flies” to high-ranking “tigers,” have been investigated.
What To Know
China has constructed over 200 sites for officials detained under liuzhi—a system of “retention in custody” outside the formal legal framework, CNN reported.
High-profile detainees have included former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, two former defense ministers—Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe—and top leaders of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force, which oversees China’s nuclear arsenal.
Detainees in liuzhi centres can be held for up to six months without access to lawyers or family. The sites feature padded walls and dedicated guards who monitor detainees 24/7.
The liuzhi system in 2018 replaced the shuanggui regime, a term referring to the Party’s ability to summon and investigate members, reportedly including through the use of torture to elicit confessions.
Critics argue the new system is not a reform, however, noting it not only codifies secret detentions but also expands the scope of those investigated beyond the CCP’s 99 million members to anyone in “public power,” from civil servants to public school principals to managers of state-owned enterprises.
One defense attorney familiar with the liuzhi process told CNN that the majority of detainees endure abuse and coercion to extract confessions.
“Most of them would succumb to the pressure and agony. Those who resisted until the end were a tiny minority,” they said anonymously over concerns of government reprisal.
CNN identified a total of 218 liuzhi facilities this year, citing tender notices.
The news agency said its analysis of satellite imagery from Colorado-based Maxar Technologies revealed an uptick in liuzhi facility construction in 2023, particularly in regions with large ethnic minority population.
One prominent example is Shizuishan in Ningxia. The 77,000-square-foot detention center built in 2018 was expanded this year to include interrogation rooms, 30 detention cells, and dormitories for 550 staff members.
A 2018 municipal notice from Shizuishan outlined safety requirements, including padded walls, concealed electrical wiring, and other measures to prevent detainee suicides—an issue that plagued the shuanggui system.
Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Foreign Ministry with a written request for comment.
What People Are Saying
Sophie Richardson, visiting scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, and former China director at Human Rights Watch:
In a social media post made on Sunday, Richardson described liuzhi as “rule-of-law-eroding,” saying: “So long as the Party maintains a stranglehold over the courts, police, and detention facilities—legal and not—and prioritizes political loyalty above all else, this will be the norm.”
“That anyone working in public service can be subjected to this treatment—see the discussion of padded walls—is deeply disturbing,” she added.
What’s Next
Xi’s anti-corruption campaign shows no sign of abating, with a particular focus on the military. Earlier this year, the leader called on the party to “turn the knife inward” to maintain discipline within party ranks.
The remarks were made in January, but only published in the CCP’s policy and news journal Qiushi last week.
“As the situation and tasks facing the party change, there will inevitably be all kinds of conflicts and problems within the party,” Xi said.
“We must have the courage to turn the knife inward and eliminate their negative impact in a timely manner to ensure that the party is always full of vigour and vitality.”
Last month, the Chinese defense ministry dismissed reports that Defense Minister Dong Jun was under investigation. However, it confirmed that Miao Hua, a member of the five-person Central Military Commission, had been suspended pending a probe into “serious violation of discipline,” a term commonly used to indicate corruption investigations.
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