Xi’s Purges Reshape China’s Party and Military Leadership

China’s Communist Party expelled a record 33 members as its fifth plenum concluded in Beijing, with attendance falling to 279 Central Committee members—the first time under Xi Jinping’s leadership that it has dropped below 300. Sixteen of those expelled were military members. The four-day gathering placed party discipline and anti-corruption at the centre of its agenda, rather than the economic and social issues that featured prominently at previous plenums. Officials said more than two million people had been disciplined since Xi took power in 2012, and that 680,000 people across the party apparatus were disciplined in the first nine months of this year. The article notes that the charges behind the latest expulsions are not specified beyond broad allegations of serious disciplinary and legal violations. Analysts quoted in the report argue that Xi’s campaign has expanded beyond tackling graft and increasingly serves to consolidate his authority, with loyalty and ideological conformity treated as aspects of discipline. The purges have affected senior officials, including former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui, former generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, and former diplomat Liu Jianchao. The removal of senior military figures has raised concerns about military leadership and combat readiness. The Central Military Commission has been reduced to Xi and vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin, while the Politburo’s membership also fell before Zhang Shengmin’s promotion brought it to 22. The article links the emphasis on discipline to the 2027 Party Congress, when a leadership reshuffle is expected. Many analysts believe Xi may seek a fourth term or remain in power beyond it. They expect him to have decisive influence over personnel choices, potentially further concentrating authority. One analyst cautions that this concentration could eventually create a serious power vacuum as Xi ages and becomes less active.

China expelled a record 33 members of the Chinese Communist party (CCP) during its fifth plenum, an annual gathering of senior officials. The number of officials absent from the meeting was also unprecedented: 279 of the 376 full and alternate members named to the Central Committee in 2022 attended, leaving more than a quarter of the original cohort absent. Some absences were attributed to purges, while others were unexplained. Among the confirmed expulsions were Zhang Youxia, formerly second-in-command in China’s military hierarchy, and Ma Xingrui, former party secretary for Xinjiang. The meeting focused on party governance and took place amid an intensified anti-corruption campaign led by Xi Jinping, who has ruled since 2012. The campaign has reached senior party and military ranks, prompting questions about whether it serves only to combat corruption or is also used to remove political rivals and punish disloyalty. Analyst Neil Thomas said the number of empty seats underscored the plenum’s emphasis on Xi’s vision of strict internal discipline. The purges have sharply reduced the membership of the Central Military Commission, the body governing the People’s Liberation Army. Only Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the military’s anti-graft official, remain. Zhang was promoted to the party’s Politburo at the plenum, making him its sole military member. The plenum also prepared the way for the 21st Party congress, expected in the second half of 2027. Xi is expected to seek a fourth term as party leader. Although leadership ranks will be refreshed at the congress, analysts say the breadth of recent purges may have left few suitable candidates for promotion.

The article reports that China’s top leaders elected Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo, the Communist Party’s highest governing body. Zhang is vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the body that oversees China’s military, and was described as its only remaining general after President Xi Jinping purged two other top generals. Those purges had also left the Politburo without a representative from the People’s Liberation Army; Zhang’s appointment restores military representation on the party’s top governing body. The article notes that Zhang now sits on the Politburo alongside Xi, who is also a member of the Central Military Commission. Separately, the party adopted a resolution focused on strengthening internal self-governance, discipline and anti-corruption. The report presents these developments as occurring while China’s leaders seek to extend their grip on power. It provides no further details about the resolution, the purges, or the implications of Zhang’s elevation. Overall, the story describes a significant personnel change linking the military leadership with the party’s top political body, alongside a renewed party focus on discipline and anti-corruption.