Xi’s Record Purges Reshape China’s Leadership

China’s Communist Party concluded its fifth plenum with a record 33 members expelled and unprecedentedly low attendance: 279 Central Committee members, the first time under Xi Jinping that attendance has fallen below 300. The gathering, held behind closed doors in Beijing, focused heavily on party discipline. Sixteen of those expelled were military members, while officials did not specify charges beyond “serious disciplinary and legal violations.” The expulsions bring the total removed during Xi’s third term to 51, compared with 35 in his first term and five in his second. Separately, 680,000 people across the party apparatus were disciplined in the first nine months of the year. Xi has made anti-corruption a central feature of his rule since 2012. Party officials describe the campaign as targeting corruption and bureaucratic conduct, while analysts quoted in the article say it also functions to consolidate Xi’s authority and enforce political loyalty. The purged include former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui, senior generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, and former diplomat Liu Jianchao. The removal of military leaders has sharply reduced the Central Military Commission, raising questions among analysts about military leadership and readiness. Xi has also removed officials he previously promoted, a sign, one analyst says, of his strong position. The article links the intensified discipline campaign to the 2027 Party Congress and an expected leadership reshuffle. Many analysts expect Xi to seek a fourth term or remain in power beyond it, a tenure unprecedented since Mao Zedong. They anticipate Xi will closely scrutinize potential successors and dominate personnel choices. While this could strengthen his control in the near term, one analyst warns that concentrating power around Xi could eventually create a serious succession vacuum.

China expelled a record 33 officials from the Chinese Communist party (CCP) during its fifth plenum, an annual gathering of senior officials. Attendance figures highlighted the scale of the removals: 279 of the Central Committee’s full and alternate members attended, compared with 376 originally named in 2022. More than a quarter of that original group was absent, making the number of empty seats the highest in modern Chinese history. Confirmed expulsions included Zhang Youxia, previously China’s second-ranking military officer, and Ma Xingrui, former party secretary of Xinjiang; the reasons for some other absences were not explained. The plenum focused on party governance and internal discipline. Since taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has pursued a campaign against corruption, which has recently reached senior party and military ranks. The article notes that observers question whether the campaign is solely about corruption or also serves to remove political rivals and punish disloyalty. Xi has called for the party to uproot “sick trees” and described the anti-corruption effort as a “never-ending journey.” The purges have substantially reduced the seven-member Central Military Commission, which now has only Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the military’s anti-graft official. Zhang was promoted to the CCP politburo at the plenum and is now the only military representative in the party’s senior leadership body. The meeting also prepared for the 21st Party congress, expected in the second half of 2027. Xi is expected to seek a fourth term, which would make him the longest-serving ruler of Communist China since Mao Zedong. Although the party’s Central Committee and politburo are due for renewal at the congress, analysts say the breadth of the purges may have left too 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.