China’s Communist Party disciplinary body said Friday it has placed former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui under investigation over suspected violations of discipline and law, without specifying what wrongdoing it alleges. The announcement comes in the context of a wider shake-up at the top of the ruling party, with other senior figures removed earlier in the year.
The statement said Ma Xingrui is a member of the party’s Central Committee. It also identified him as the party secretary of Xinjiang from 2021 to 2025, a role he held during years when the region drew intense international scrutiny over how China handled ethnic minority groups.
Ma previously served as director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission and as deputy party chief in Guangdong province, according to the account provided alongside the investigation notice. The disciplinary body did not detail the allegations or explain what specific conduct it suspects.
Ma was replaced as Xinjiang party chief in July 2025 by Chen Xiaojiang, the AP said. Xinjiang had become internationally known over a yearslong campaign that rights and outside experts have criticized as involving mass detentions and coercive controls.
In recent years, China has said it closed most detention centers by 2021, when Ma took over as secretary. The AP said that by then, at least some camp sites were converted into prison-like facilities, and that information leaked to the AP indicated thousands of Uyghurs received long sentences on what experts described as trumped-up charges.
In March, China passed a law that experts say cements an assimilationist approach toward ethnic minority groups, the AP reported, building on policy changes in Xinjiang and other provinces. Ma’s investigation now adds another personnel development linked to the party’s internal discipline push.
The AP said it was unclear what violations Ma Xingrui allegedly committed, leaving questions about whether the probe relates to his time in Xinjiang or to earlier roles in national and provincial governance. As with other party investigations, the disciplinary process is expected to proceed without public detail at the outset.