Beijing plenum purges 33 senior officials, boosts anti-corruption chief

Beijing, China. The Chinese Communist Party ended its fifth plenum on Thursday, formally expelling 33 senior members from its ranks. The meeting, which began on Monday, centered on tightening party discipline and continuing President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive.

The plenum serves as the party's most critical annual gathering. Of the 376 full and alternate central committee members elected in 2022, only 279 attended the session. More than a quarter of the committee was absent. Officials and analysts believe many of the missing members are currently under investigation.

Zhang Youxia, formerly China's most senior military general, was among the expelled members. So was Liu Jianchao, a senior diplomat who had been tipped as a potential next foreign minister. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, noted that the military leadership ranks have been almost completely purged in the last three or four years.

General Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the Politburo, a body of more than 20 top party officials. Thomas said this move reinforces the priority of anti-corruption work within the military. Zhang Shengmin has been a key player in Xi's campaign and survived the recent purges.

Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University in Washington D.C., said the meeting prepares the party for the next congress, where Xi is expected to seek a fourth term. "This is Xi Jinping setting up for the next party congress next year by ensuring that everybody is on the same page as him," Torigian said. He described the churn among officials as raising questions about who will fill key ranks during the succession process.

Zhang Fuhai, Deputy Secretary of the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, provided numbers on the campaign's scope on Friday. He stated that 7.9 million individuals have been punished since Xi took power in late 2012. More than 960 of those were senior officials.

"The fight against corruption remains serious, complicated, and eradicating the breeding ground for corruption remains a formidable task," Zhang Fuhai told reporters. He emphasized that the work is far from complete.

The plenum also addressed bureaucratic inefficiency. Xi has complained about excessive formalities. Torigian explained that party language for this issue refers to holding many meetings without achieving results. The party plans to increase regular reporting from discipline inspectors to central authorities to add scrutiny on local officials.

Thomas warned that local officials might play it safe to avoid the discipline system. This could lead to more inertia and less experimentation, potentially having the opposite effect of what Xi intended. The party aims to maintain its purity and prevent the degradation seen in other communist regimes.

Full decisions from the meeting are expected to be published in the coming days. Analysts said the outcome impacts how the United States calculates China's willingness to use force in the South China Sea and regarding Taiwan. Thomas suggested Xi is unlikely to take that risk until he feels more comfortable with the party leadership.