Chinese Communist Party removes 33 officials at annual meeting

The ruling Communist Party in China ended its annual fifth plenum on Thursday, formally removing 33 senior members from the party. The meeting, which took place in Beijing starting Monday, focused on discipline and the ongoing anti-corruption effort led by President Xi Jinping.

Of the 376 full and alternate central committee members elected in 2022, only 279 attended the session. This absence rate exceeds 25%, and analysts believe many of the missing members are currently under investigation.

The party's disciplinary action targeted high-ranking officials in both the military and the diplomatic corps. The expelled members include Zhang Youxia, formerly the most senior general in the Chinese military, and Liu Jianchao, a diplomat previously viewed as a candidate for the role of foreign minister. 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 over the last three or four years.

Despite the removals, one military official was promoted during the meeting. General Zhang Shengmin, a key figure in Xi's anti-corruption initiative, was elevated to the Politburo, the group of more than 20 top party officials. Thomas said this promotion signals that anti-corruption work within the military remains a priority for the leadership.

The plenum also addressed the need to strengthen party governance. Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University in Washington, D.C., noted that Xi aims to ensure the party maintains its purity and does not collapse like other communist regimes. Torigian said the meeting serves as a signal that Xi is preparing for the next party congress, where he may seek a fourth term in office.

Zhang Fuhai, Deputy Secretary of the Communist party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, provided specific figures on the scale of the anti-corruption campaign to reporters on Friday. He reported that 7.9 million individuals have been punished since Xi came into power in late 2012. This group includes more than 960 senior officials. Zhang described the fight against corruption as serious and complicated, noting that eradicating its breeding ground remains a formidable task.

The meeting also criticized excessive formalities and bureaucracy. Torigian interpreted this as party language for going through the motions without achieving results. To address this, the party plans to increase regular reporting from discipline inspectors to central authorities. This will add scrutiny to local officials, although Thomas warned that local leaders may become overly cautious to avoid attention, potentially leading to less experimentation and more inertia.

Political watchers did not find definitive information on Xi's successor during the plenum. Torigian said few experts believe Xi will pick a successor at the next party congress. The full decisions and deliverables from the meeting are expected to be published in the days following the conclusion of the session on Thursday.