China’s Communist Party has expelled a record 33 members as it concluded a major annual political gathering that drew more empty seats than any before it. A communique issued on Thursday said 16 of those expelled come from the military. The announcement marked the end of the four-day closed-door meeting, which was held at a hotel in Beijing.
The fifth plenum was attended by 279 Central Committee members. That compares with 315 at the fourth plenum in October 2025 and 364 at the third plenum in July 2024. This is the first time during Xi Jinping’s 14 years in power that attendance has dropped below 300.
Attendance falls as discipline takes centre stage
Recent plenums concentrated on economic reform and social and development matters. This week’s session, however, put party discipline at the heart of its agenda. The current Central Committee began its term in 2022 with more than 370 members, so the drop in turnout is notable.
Xi has made the fight against corruption a central pillar of his rule since taking over in 2012. He has described corruption as the “biggest threat” facing the party. In its own statement, the party said it had faced up to a difficult reality, namely that its leadership had at times weakened or become hollow. It pledged to keep enforcing strict self-governance, including tougher internal scrutiny to curb disorder.
The expelled members have been accused of “serious disciplinary and legal violations”, but officials have not said what specific charges they face. Analysts note that such broad language has become routine under the anti-corruption campaign. Chong Ja Ian, a non-resident scholar with Carnegie China, described the drive as “an effort to consolidate and maintain authority”.
Record purges under Xi’s third term
The latest expulsions raise the total number of members removed during Xi’s third term to a record 51. In his first and second terms, the figures were 35 and five respectively. Separately, China’s top anti-corruption watchdog said 680,000 people across the party apparatus had been disciplined in the first nine months of this year.
Observers argue that Xi sees corruption not only as graft but also as ideological impurity and, above all, disloyalty. In January, he warned against “two-faced cadres” who claim political loyalty while defying orders and pursuing their own interests. Chong said the campaign would keep going depending on how secure Xi feels, rather than because of any real change in the level of corruption.
Several senior figures have also been removed. They include former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui and former top generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli. Official statements about their removal said they had been “seriously violating [the party’s] discipline and rules”, a phrase widely understood as a euphemism for corruption. Former prominent diplomat Liu Jianchao, who had not been seen in public since July last year, was also named among those purged.
Military leadership and the Politburo under pressure
The removal of senior military figures stands out. Neil Thomas, Lobsang Tsering and Shengyu Wang of the Asia Society Policy Institute described the situation as “in a category of its own”. They wrote that “it raises serious questions about organisational leadership and combat readiness, even as China continues to unveil formidable new military hardware.”
Zhang Youxia was also vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, the body that controls the armed forces. That seven-member commission has since been reduced to two members: Xi as chairman and Zhang Shengmin as vice-chairman. Ma and Zhang Youxia were both former Politburo members. Along with former general He Weidong, who was removed in 2025, their departures left the 24-member Politburo with 21 members at one point. Zhang Shengmin was later promoted to the top decision-making body at the fifth plenum, bringing the number to 22.
Analysts link the stress on discipline, which many read as a demand for loyalty, to next year’s Party Congress, when the CCP will again choose its leader. A leadership reshuffle is due in 2027, and many analysts expect Xi to stay in the top job for a fourth term and beyond. Apart from Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China, no leader has served that long.
Thomas said Xi has reason to “scrutinise the next cohort more closely” given how many officials from the current committee have fallen. He added that “provincial leadership ranks are a promising place to look” for rising figures. Observers expect Xi to dominate personnel decisions at the 21st Party Congress, which would further strengthen his hold on the party and the country.
Chong said Xi intends to remain at the centre of China and the party for the foreseeable future. She also warned that such concentration of power could eventually lead to “a more serious power vacuum when Xi ages and slows down”.
