Chinese President Xi Jinping has convened the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party for its fifth plenary session in Beijing, focusing on rigorous party governance and sweeping anti-corruption purges that have thinned military and civilian leadership ranks ahead of next year’s party congress.
From October 26 to 29, the closed-door gathering brings together roughly 300 of the ruling party’s highest-ranking members to debate and adopt decisions on internal discipline. While past plenums often centered on upcoming five-year economic blueprints, the fourth plenum in 2025 already adopted those recommendations, leaving this session focused on full and rigorous party self-governance
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Xi Underscores Importance of Unquestioned Authority
Ahead of the gathering, leadership published key texts in the party’s theoretical journal Qiushi, including a republication of Xi’s January 12 speech at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Speaking in his capacities as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, President of the People’s Republic of China, and General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xi underscored the importance of carrying out central directives while simultaneously setting up structures to guarantee unquestioned authority during that address.
The messaging targets what leadership describes as two-faced
opportunistic officials who pay public tribute to party directives while privately resisting implementation or building local cliques. Simultaneously, the newly published documents stress that executing the Party Central Committee’s primary plans and directives is a fundamental tenet of political rules and discipline within the Party, noting that such execution does not clash with creative endeavors provided that officials steer clear of rigid copying and blanket measures while basing their work in reality.
In his writings and speeches, Xi laid out priorities that include putting the vast power wielded by cadres into an institutional cage, sustaining the high-pressure anti-graft campaign indefinitely, and strengthening team building to forge a steel team of discipline inspection and supervision personnel who are politically sound, professionally capable, of good conduct, clean, loyal, responsible, and courageous and skillful in struggle.
Military Leadership Faces Turnover Amid Widening Purge
Official reports indicate that dozens of members have been investigated or expelled since 2022.
The military leadership has experienced turnover amid a widening purge of senior military officials. Zhang Youxia served as a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission—the top military command body of the CCP—while Liu Zhenli served as chief of staff of its Joint Staff Department, and both were placed under investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law in January. The upcoming meeting is expected to formally endorse the removal of two Politburo elites, Ma Xingrui and Zhang Youxia, over allegations encompassing disloyalty and corruption.
Analysts note that these removals have left the military leadership facing significant vacuums in areas such as training, operations, and routine work. Observers such as Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser on China at the Tony Blair Institute in London, noted that disciplinary campaigns serve as a way to ensure a new generation with fewer personal ties share Xi’s political standards as many of his closest associates approach retirement.
Authorities Report High-Profile Bribery Cases
In the weeks leading up to the meeting, authorities reported a raft of serious, high-profile cases connected to bribery and the abuse of public office for personal gain.
- Over the course of twenty years, former Wuhan mayor Zhou Xianwang accepted bribes exceeding 60.5 million renminbi (€8 million), resulting in a 14-year prison sentence.
- Authorities announced the indictment of a former mayor of Chengdu, the arrest of a former mayor of Chongqing and his son, the prosecution of the former police chief of Heilongjiang, and the indictment of a former university president.
- Charges across these high-profile cases center on bribery and the abuse of public office for personal gain, involving huge sums.
While critics argue that continuous purges within the armed forces are destabilising and undermine combat readiness, the party has portrayed the campaign as necessary and regenerative, stating that the military must undergo a phoenix-like rebirth and bathe in flames and be forged anew.
China Controls Online Military Content
Alongside the personnel purges, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, and two military political and legal affairs departments issued an official notice aimed at controlling online military content, a move interpreted as an effort to manage public discussion during a politically sensitive period marked by potential personnel changes.
Scholars such as Huang Hsin-hao, a professor in the Department of Civic Education and Leadership at National Taiwan Normal University, have described the anti-corruption efforts under Xi as institution-building within a mobilisation system, which serves to consolidate political position and enforce organisational discipline.
The 2027 Party Congress Horizon
With the 21st Party Congress scheduled for autumn 2027—where Xi, 73, is widely expected to secure another term as party leader—ministerial-level officials are actively jockeying to position themselves for promotions onto the Politburo and its Standing Committee.
Xi is culling pretty much an entire generation of the general officer corps. This is sweeping. It makes Roman decimation look quaint by comparison.
Neil Czin
Whether upcoming personnel announcements at the meeting will restore institutional trust or deepen uncertainty within the ruling elite is uncertain as closed-door deliberations proceed through Thursday.