Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui attends the Xinjiang delegation meeting during the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on March 7, 2025. Adek Berry/ AFP via Getty Images
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has expelled former Politburo member Ma Xingrui for corruption and abuse of power involving his family, amid turmoil at the top echelons of power.
Ma, 66, was stripped of his Party membership and removed from all public duties following an internal investigation, the Chinese authorities announced on Tuesday.
Once considered a rising star on the Chinese political stage, Ma is now the latest victim of the so-called anti-corruption purge led by Xi Jinping, the Party’s leader.
The far-reaching campaign, which also served to eliminate Xi’s political rivals, has gained fresh momentum in recent years, taking down dozens of senior military officials, including two top generals who were also members of the Politburo.
Ma’s ouster created the third vacancy in the Party’s top decision-making body, a situation unseen in China in decades.
Related Stories
The Commission said in a statement on July 14 that Ma “seriously violated political discipline and rules” by condoning his staff’s misconduct and crimes and assisting family members in buying properties below market value.
The agency also accused Ma of using his official position and money to secure sexual favors and for allowing his relatives to use his political influence to score huge financial benefits, creating “rampant” corruption that involved his whole family. The amount of money involved was not disclosed.
The agency said Ma will be prosecuted.
The agency added that the Politburo reviewed and approved a report on the probe into Ma during a meeting on June 30, though it didn’t provide reasons for why Beijing has only now revealed the range of allegations involved in the investigation.
Ma, an aerospace engineer, spent more than a decade working in China’s defense industry. From 2007 to 2013, he led China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., a state-owned conglomerate and a major military supplier.
He Weidong (R), second-ranked vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission (CMC), and Zhang Youxia, first-ranked vice chairman of the CMC, attend the opening ceremony of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Beijing on March 4, 2025. Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images
Zhang had been a member of the Politburo, which has effectively shrunk from 24 members in 2022 to 21 following Ma’s departure.
Since then, Xinjiang has seen multiple senior Party officials fall from grace, including Zhu Changjie, who had long served in the region’s security apparatus.