Beijing Plenum: 33 senior officials removed in Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive

The Chinese Communist Party expelled 33 senior members from its central committee on Thursday, concluding the fifth plenum with a renewed focus on discipline and loyalty to the party line.

The four-day session began on Monday and ended with the confirmation that 33 of the 376 full and alternate central committee members named in 2022 were no longer present. Of the 376 originally listed, only 279 attended the meeting. Many of the absentees are believed to be under investigation for corruption or other violations.

Among those removed were Zhang Youxia, formerly the country's most senior military general, and Liu Jianchao, a senior diplomat previously considered a candidate for 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 officials. He has been a key player in the anti-corruption campaign. Thomas said his elevation reinforces the priority of cleaning up the military from within.

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. This total includes over 960 senior officials. He described the task of eradicating the breeding ground for corruption as formidable.

Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University, said the meeting serves to ensure that party members are aligned with Xi Jinping ahead of the next party congress. Torigian noted that the plenum highlights a focus on maintaining the party's purity and preventing the degradation seen in other communist regimes. The meeting also addressed excessive formalities, which Torigian described as party language for going through motions without achieving results.

Thomas suggested that Xi is unlikely to use force over Taiwan or in the South China Sea until he feels more comfortable with the party's internal discipline. Local officials may become more risk-averse to avoid scrutiny from discipline inspectors, potentially leading to less experimentation. Full decisions and deliverables from the plenum are expected to be published soon.