China Expels 33 Officials in Beijing Meeting

The Communist Party of China removed 33 senior members from its central committee on Thursday, ending a four-day meeting in Beijing. The expulsion list includes Zhang Youxia, formerly the country’s most senior military general, and Liu Jianchao, a diplomat previously considered a candidate for foreign minister. These removals mark the latest stage in Xi Jinping’s ongoing effort to restructure the party’s leadership.

Of the 376 full and alternate central committee members named in 2022, only 279 attended the fifth plenum. This absence of nearly 100 officials suggests many are under investigation. The session ran from Monday to Thursday, with officials gathering to review party discipline and governance strategies.

Zhang Shengmin, a general and key figure in the anti-corruption drive, was promoted to the Politburo. The Politburo contains more than 20 of the party’s top officials. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, noted that this promotion underscores the military’s role in enforcing party standards. Thomas stated that the military leadership has been heavily restructured in recent years.

Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University, described the meeting as a preparation for the next party congress. He said Xi is ensuring that all members align with his vision before a potential fourth term next year. Torigian observed significant turnover in the ranks, creating uncertainty about who will fill key positions during a major leadership transition.

Zhang Fuhai, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, provided specific figures on the campaign’s scale. Since late 2012, 7.9 million individuals have faced punishment. Over 960 senior officials are included in that total. Zhang told reporters on Friday that the fight against corruption remains a formidable task.

The meeting also addressed bureaucratic inefficiency. Xi has criticized excessive formalities, which Torigian described as party language for conducting meetings without achieving results. To improve oversight, discipline inspectors will report more regularly to central authorities. Thomas warned that local officials might become overly cautious to avoid scrutiny, potentially reducing experimentation and innovation.

No clear successor to Xi emerged from the plenum. Most political analysts do not expect a new leader to be chosen at the upcoming congress. Full decisions and deliverables from the meeting are expected to be published in the days following the session.