Plenum attendance and expulsions
The fifth plenum concluded this week with the expulsion of 33 members from the Chinese Communist Party. Only 279 full and alternate members of the Central Committee attended, leaving many empty seats. This attendance figure is a significant drop from the 376 members originally named in 2022. The absence of more than 25 percent of the original cohort named in 2022, many of whom were removed during recent purges, is the highest number of ’empty chairs’ at a plenum in modern Chinese history. Confirmed expulsions include Ma Xingrui, the former party secretary for Xinjiang, and Zhang Youxia, who previously served as the second-in-command in the military hierarchy. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society thinktank, said on X that "More empty seats underscores the plenum’s focus on Xi’s vision of strict internal discipline."
| Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Expelled members | 33 |
| Attending Central Committee members | 279 |
| Original 2022 cohort members | 376 |
| Central Military Commission members remaining | 2 |
The theme for this week’s plenum was party governance. Since 2012, Xi Jinping has focused on stamping out corruption in the party. This campaign intensified in recent years, removing officials in the highest ranks of the party and the military. Such removals raise questions about whether the campaign acts as a tool to remove political rivals or punish disloyalty. Xi Jinping is frustrated with the lack of discipline in the ranks of the party that wields absolute authority over the state and society in China. He previously said the party must uproot "sick trees" and described the fight against corruption as a "never-ending journey."
Military leadership changes
The purges gutted the seven-man Central Military Commission, which is the ruling body of China’s People’s Liberation Army. The commission now contains only two members: Xi Jinping and the military’s anti-graft tsar, Zhang Shengmin. This week, Zhang Shengmin joined the politburo, which is the highest ruling body in the party. His promotion makes him the only military member of the senior leadership body.
The plenum also established the groundwork for the 21st Party congress, which occurs every five years and is expected to occur in the second half of 2027. Xi Jinping expects to secure a fourth term as leader. This would make him the longest ruler of Communist China since Mao Zedong. Because the purges have been so wide-ranging, many analysts believe there are few suitable candidates to be promoted when the ranks of the Central Committee and the politburo refresh at next year’s congress.
