High-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials attending last week’s top meeting were forbidden to go home while the Party tightened its control over their social contacts, according to an insider within its system.
As the CCP’s Fifth Plenum concluded in Beijing on Oct. 29, a Beijing-based insider using the pseudonym Tang Ming for fear of reprisal from the Chinese regime told The Epoch Times that the CCP is imposing increasingly strict controls on the private interactions of officials—to the extent that even retired high-ranking officials are now required to report phone calls among themselves.
In the Fifth Plenum, the CCP adopted a decision on “advancing full and rigorous governance of the party,” further tightening discipline while an internal purge continues to widen.
As regulations become more stringent, during CCP Central Committee sessions, senior officials are not permitted to return home every day, according to Tang.
“In previous years, high-ranking officials based in Beijing could return home after the day’s meeting, but during this Fifth Plenum they were required to stay in designated hotels.”
It has become difficult for officials to arrange private meetings or socialize with other senior leaders during the sessions, Tang said.
“In the past—for instance, during the Fifth Plenum—several State Councilors or Politburo members might have gotten together for dinner after the day’s meeting. But things are different this year; they must eat at the designated hotel. Everyone stays within the confines of the meeting arrangements.”
These kinds of requirements have been formalized into internal CCP documents, Tang said. “Even private gatherings involving more than three senior officials must now be reported to the General Office of the CCP’s Central Committee.”
Local officials can still communicate with central government departments through formal channels; however, private dinners, informal visits, or other forms of interaction that evade organizational oversight have become political risks to be avoided, according to Tang.
“This puts an end to officials’ private gatherings,” he said.
Restrictions on Retired Officials
The scope of the restrictions has expanded, moving beyond private dinners or social visits among incumbent Politburo members to now include even telephone conversations between retired senior officials, Tang said. “For instance, if [former Premier] Wen Jiabao wanted to have a phone call with [former Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference] Jia Qinglin, he would have to report it to the General Office of the CCP’s Central Committee.”
Aside from private phone calls, meeting each other at various social events or gatherings must also be reported to the General Office of the CCP’s Central Committee, he said—“specifically, any gathering involving more than three people.”
Interactions among retired high-ranking officials—even private visits, such as former subordinates calling on their former superiors—now require formal reporting, Tang said. “It’s simply not allowed. … They must report it to the General Office of the CCP’s Central Committee.”
Within the CCP’s political sphere, connections between retired leaders and their former subordinates have long served as a key indicator for outside observers studying political networks and informal influence. Now, the CCP has tightened control over such relations as well, according to Tang.
‘Red Phones’ Monitored
Daily communications of high-ranking officials are also monitored, allowing authorities to keep track of their interactions, Tang said.
“Their phone calls are monitored—even the ‘red phones’ are monitored,” he said.
The “red phone” or “red line” is the common name for the dedicated communication equipment used by the top echelons of the CCP, the government, and the military. These specialized, secure lines have long been regarded as a vital channel for internal communication among the CCP’s senior leadership.
Officials usually don’t use mobile phones, Tang said. “Their phones are kept by their secretaries, and they don’t carry mobile phones themselves.”
Regarding whether officials might bypass monitored formal communication channels, Tang said some could still potentially pass on private letters through family members. “If someone writes a private letter and has a family member deliver it, there’s really no way to prevent that.”
Tang summed up by saying that since the CCP has implemented stricter Party governance, both retired and incumbent officials have effectively been kept inside a “cage.”
“Any sort of private, off-the-books activities are restricted.”
Leng Feng and Liu Yun contributed to this report.
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