China's Communist Party has expelled Ma Xingrui, once one of its most senior officials, capping a corruption case that its anti-graft agency said ranged from bribery to trading political favors for sex. The move, reported by The Washington Post and Bloomberg, removes a former member of the ruling Politburo and clears the way for possible criminal prosecution.
Who Ma Xingrui is
Ma was a member of the Politburo, the roughly two-dozen-strong body at the apex of Chinese power, and until recently the party secretary of Xinjiang, the strategically sensitive far-western region. Before that he built a high-profile career that spanned China's space program and top posts in the wealthy southern province of Guangdong, including in Shenzhen. His seniority made the case unusually significant: decisions to purge officials of his rank are widely understood to require the direct sign-off of President Xi Jinping.
The charges
The party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection found that Ma had "severely violated" party discipline and is suspected of corruption-related crimes. According to Bloomberg's account of the official findings, the allegations include accepting bribes, abusing his power, helping family members buy property at a discount, trading favors for sex, and condoning misconduct by his staff. His case has been referred to prosecutors.
Part of a widening purge
Ma's expulsion is not isolated. He is the third sitting Politburo member to be purged since 2025, a pace of high-level removals that analysts describe as unusual even by the standards of Xi's long-running anti-corruption campaign. That drive, launched after Xi took power in 2012, has disciplined millions of officials over the years and has recently reached deep into the senior military ranks as well.
Supporters cast the campaign as a genuine effort to clean up the party and reassure the public. Outside analysts note that it also serves to consolidate Xi's authority by removing potential rivals and enforcing loyalty at the highest levels. The expulsion of a figure as senior as Ma underscores both readings at once: that no rank appears beyond the reach of the discipline apparatus, and that the apparatus remains firmly an instrument of the leadership that directs it.
