Beijing Plenum Confirms Expulsion of 33 Communist Party Officials

The Communist Party of China concluded its fifth plenum on Thursday, Oct. 30, by formally expelling 33 senior members from the central committee. The four-day session, which began Monday, Oct. 27, focused on anti-corruption measures and party discipline. Leader Xi Jinping uses this annual meeting to set policy and review leadership before the next party congress.

Attendance at the session dropped sharply. Of the 376 full and alternate central committee members named in 2022, only 279 showed up. That absence of nearly 100 members suggests many are currently under investigation. Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, told reporters on Friday that 7.9 million individuals have been punished since the campaign began in late 2012. He added that over 960 senior officials are included in that total.

The purge removed high-ranking figures from the military and diplomatic corps. Zhang Youxia, formerly the most senior military general, lost his party membership. Liu Jianchao, a senior diplomat previously considered a candidate for foreign minister, was also expelled. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute, stated that the military leadership ranks have been almost completely purged in the last three to four years.

General Zhang Shengmin stood out as a survivor and a beneficiary of the reshuffle. He was promoted to the Politburo, a body of more than 20 top officials. Thomas noted that this promotion signals the priority Xi places on anti-corruption work within the military. Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University, described the movement as a lot of churn that raises questions about who will fill key ranks during the next succession.

The meeting emphasized maintaining party governance and loyalty. Torigian explained that Xi seeks to ensure members put the party at the center of their lives rather than their own interests. The goal is to prevent the regime from degrading or collapsing, a fate that has befallen other communist parties. More regular reporting from discipline inspectors to central authorities will add scrutiny on local officials.

Xi has also criticized excessive formalities and bureaucracy. Torigian interpreted this as a complaint about going through the motions without achieving results. Thomas warned that local officials might play it safe to avoid discipline system attention. This caution could lead to inertia and less experimentation, potentially producing the opposite effect of what Xi intended. No specific successor for Xi was named during the plenum.

The full decisions and deliverables from the meeting are expected to be published in the next few days. The session provides insight into how Xi views the readiness of his party to handle external disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwan.