China has expanded services to detain suspects caught in President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption network, according to a new report.
Analysts have said China’s ongoing anti-corruption crackdown has served as a tool for Xi against his political rivals. Academics have called Xi’s new expanded detention processes “deeply worrying. “
Xi, who recently served an unprecedented third presidential term, introduced a wide-ranging anti-corruption crusade after assuming leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012. Since then, more than 4,000 Party officials, from “flies” to high-ranking “tigers,” have been investigated from high-ranking “tigers. “
China has built more than 200 sites for officials detained during Liuzhi’s rule, a “detention-in-detention” formula 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 centers can be detained for up to six months without the assistance of a lawyer or family members. The centers have padded walls and committed guards who monitor detainees 24/7.
The liuzhi formula replaced the shuanggui regime in 2018, a term that refers to the Party’s ability to summon and investigate its members, adding the use of torture to extract 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 succumbed to the tension and agony. Those who resisted until the end were a small minority,” they said anonymously, fearing government reprisals.
CNN has learned of a total of 218 Liuzhi services this year and has published tender notices.
The news firm said its investigation of satellite photographs by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies uncovered a slight buildup in the structure of services in Liuzhi in 2023, in spaces with significant ethnic minority populations.
Shizuishan in Ningxia is a striking example of this. The 77,000-square-foot detention center built in 2018 was expanded this year to include interrogation rooms, 30 holding cells and dormitories for 550 staff members.
The Shizuishan Municipality of 2018 established defined safety requirements, adding padded walls, hidden electrical wiring, and other measures to prevent inmate suicides, a challenge that plagues the shuanggui system.
Newsweek has reached out to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for written comment.
Sophie Richardson, visiting fellow 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 on Sunday, Richardson described Liuzhi as “an attack on the rule of law,” saying, “As long as the Party stands tall over the courts, police, and detention centers, legal or not, and prioritizes political loyalty above all else, this will be the norm. “
“The fact that any candidate in public service could be subjected to this remedy (see padded walls debate) is deeply worrying,” he added.
Xi’s anti-corruption crusade displays no symptoms of slowing down, with a specific concentrate on the military. Earlier this year, the leader called on the party to “turn the knife inward” to field inside of the party.
The comments were made in January, but were published last week in the CCP’s political and news magazine Qiushi.
“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 will have to have the courage to turn the knife inward and eliminate its negative effects at the right time to ensure that the game is full of vigor and vitality. “
Last month, China’s Defense Ministry dismissed reports that Defense Minister Dong Jun was under investigation. However, it showed that Miao Hua, a member of the five-person Central Military Commission, had been suspended pending an investigation for “serious breach of discipline,” a term commonly used for corruption investigations.
Micah McCartney is a Newsweek journalist in Taipei, Taiwan. Covers US-China relations, security issues in East and Southeast Asia, and China-Taiwan relations. You can contact Micah by emailing m. mccartney@newsweek. com.