China’s top leaders elevated the sole remaining general on the military oversight commission to the Politburo, the highest governing body of the Communist Party, on Thursday.
Party Leadership and Military Changes
During a four-day closed-door meeting, senior Communist Party leaders deliberated and adopted resolutions intended to guide the party in the coming years. The gathering took place approximately a year before President Xi Jinping is widely anticipated to secure a fourth five-year term as the party leader.
The party elected Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo, who serves as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xi had previously purged two top Chinese generals, which left Zhang as the commission’s sole member alongside Xi himself. That prior situation also left the Politburo without any representation from the People’s Liberation Army.
Aside from his military commission role, Zhang oversees internal discipline for the military, working as deputy secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Anti-Corruption and Self-Governance Resolution
The leadership also adopted a resolution focused on strengthening self-governance, discipline, and anti-corruption within the party as they work to extend their hold on power. A summary of the resolution released by the official Xinhua News Agency stated that the party must enhance its long-term governance capacity, maintain its progressive nature and purity, and preserve close ties with the people.
The summary noted that the tasks facing the party were increasingly arduous, specifically mentioning the need to unite and lead the population in safeguarding national sovereignty, security, and development interests. Furthermore, the party must step up its self-governance by rooting out corruption and preserving ideological purity.
Xi has championed anti-corruption efforts since taking power in 2012, sustaining a crackdown on officials for over a decade. Analysts point out that the focus has expanded to include underperforming officials as well.
During the plenum meeting, party members also reviewed and confirmed the earlier personnel purges of top members and military officials. According to analysis by Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at Asia Policy who studies Chinese politics, the meeting revealed wider-than-expected purges and recorded an attendance rate of 74 percent, marking the lowest rate since the era of former leader Mao Zedong.
