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China’s PLA ramped up an anti-corruption drive at the end of a four-day plenary gathering of the 20th Central Committee, focusing on political loyalty and internal discipline
China’s ruling Communist Party concluded a pivotal four-day plenary gathering under President Xi Jinping. (Image: AFP/File)
China’s ruling Communist Party concluded a pivotal four-day plenary gathering under President Xi Jinping, confirming the expulsion of 33 senior figures including 16 high-ranking generals and several prominent defence industry executives.
This action comes as China ramps up its anti-corruption campaign with the closed-door fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee focused on absolute political loyalty and internal discipline.
This has, however, left the upper echelons of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) dramatically altered. Unlike previous plenums that prioritised economic reforms, this gathering focused almost exclusively on party discipline, rectitude, and political alignment.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE MEETING?
According to the official communique released on Thursday (October 29), party leaders resolved to “deepen party self-governance” and confront entrenched malpractice by “turning the knife inward”.
The meeting ratified the ejection of 33 full and alternate Central Committee members, bringing the total number of committee members ousted during Xi’s third term to a record 51 – far exceeding the 35 removed during his first term and five during his second.
The purge has visibly hollowed out the party’s elite ranks. The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported that only 162 of the 205 full Central Committee members attended the conclave, representing a turnout of just 79 per cent. Overall attendance dropped to 279 members, falling below 300 for the first time in Xi’s 14 years in power.
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE PARTY RANKS?
The plenum finalised the expulsion of former Central Military Commission (CMC) vice-chairman Zhang Youxia – formerly China’s highest-ranking general – alongside former commission member Liu Zhenli following protracted graft inquiries.
The expulsion of high-profile members has left the once seven-strong CMC, the nation’s supreme military command body headed by Xi, reduced to a mere two individuals: President Xi himself and General Zhang Shengmin.
General Zhang, a trusted associate of Xi who served as the military’s anti-corruption chief from 2018 until July this year, was elevated to the elite Politburo at the plenum.
The expulsions also dismantled key conduits of military oversight and operational command. Two successive directors of the powerful CMC General Office – Lieutenant General Zhong Shaojun and Lieutenant General Fang Yongxiang – were stripped of their Central Committee seats.
Zhong had served as a vital lieutenant to Xi since his provincial tenure in Zhejiang in 2002 before taking charge of the General Office from 2017 to 2024. His successor Fang, meanwhile, had risen through the army’s political work system before being sidelined.
Beyond uniformed officers, the plenum confirmed the expulsion of several senior civilian figures coordinating China’s military-industrial apparatus. Both Jin Zhuanglong, a former minister of industry and information technology, and Lei Fanpei were expelled from the party; both had served as deputy directors of the Office of the Central Commission for Integrated Military and Civilian Development.
The action also formally sealed the fate of four former chiefs of state-owned defence conglomerates who had disappeared from public view in 2024: Yu Jianfeng, former chairman of the China National Nuclear Corporation; Yuan Jie, former chairman of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation; Zhang Zhongyang, former general manager of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation; and Wen Gang, former chairman of the China State Shipbuilding Corporation.
WHAT DID THE PLA SAY?
Defending the action at a press briefing in Beijing, party officials said the measures were essential to safeguard clean governance and ideological purity.
Zhang Fuhai, deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said the Central Committee, “with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core”, had successfully “eliminated serious hidden dangers within the Party, the state and the military”. He said the leadership was guided by a profound sense of duty. “We would rather offend thousands than let down 1.4 billion people,” he added.
Zhang said supervisory bodies had initiated 8.1 million cases and disciplined 7.9 million individuals since Xi assumed power in 2012, including 963 senior cadres under central management, with 6,80,000 disciplined in the first nine months of this year alone. Acknowledging that misconduct remains “persistent, entrenched and recurring”, he pledged that anti-graft efforts would intensify in sectors characterised by concentrated capital and power.
Huang Jianfa, deputy head of the Central Organisation Department, said punishing the corrupt “encourages and protects those who serve with integrity”, though he conceded that some cadres currently “fear getting into trouble and dare not act” or lack motivation.
Experts, however, said this action primarily serves to consolidate Xi’s supreme authority ahead of the 21st Party Congress scheduled for late next year, where he is widely expected to secure a fourth term.
Chong Ja Ian, an associate scholar with Carnegie China, told the BBC that the campaign has morphed into “an effort to consolidate and maintain authority” that expands “depending on how secure Xi feels rather than any real issue with corruption”.
Benjamin Hillman, a professor at the Australian National University, cautioned that officials have grown “increasingly cautious of trying new things because mistakes can be costly”. This environment fosters “superficial compliance, such as holding meetings, workshops and training sessions, to demonstrate loyalty without actually doing anything”.
(With inputs from AFP & PTI)
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Oindrila Mukherjee is a senior sub-editor who works for the rewrite and breaking news desks. Her nine years of experience in print and digital journalism range from editing and reporting to writing im…Read More
October 30, 2026, 17:08 IST
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