Zeng Qinghong could be the next target for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, according to unverified rumors circulating in Hong Kong and Chinese-American media since January. Zeng served as chief of the Communist Party’s powerful Organization Department and sat on the previous Politburo Standing Committee under former President Hu Jintao. Stratfor cannot verify these rumors, and has doubts about their provenance. However, while their probability is low, their significance, if true, is high. There are few people as powerful as Zeng, and any attempt to prosecute him would likely lead to substantial pushback. Thus Zeng’s prosecution would suggest that either Xi’s administration is confident of its position or it is nervous and desperate to strip its opponents of power.

The rumors have been circulating for weeks from Falun Gong-linked New Tang Dynasty Television and the Epoch Times. Hong Kong’s Open Magazine, a pro-democracy publication that works with Radio Free Asia, recently claimed that Zeng would indeed become the primary target of Xi’s power consolidation campaign, and was soon echoed by Chinese Media Net, which operates both in China and the United States. So far, these claims rely on very little explicitly stated evidence — for instance, Zeng’s conspicuous absence from two recent Communist Party gatherings, including an October celebration of President Xi’s father’s birthday, and rumors that Zeng was behind leaks to foreign news organizations about Chinese leaders’ personal wealth and holdings abroad.

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