China’s political leaders and elites began a four-day meeting Monday to discuss strengthening the ruling Communist Party’s discipline, as Chinese President Xi Jinping pushes for greater loyalty and reliability from officials while deepening his yearslong campaign against corruption. This week’s closed-door gathering, known as the fifth plenum of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, comes roughly a year before Xi is widely expected to secure his fourth five-year term as the party’s leader and personnel changes to key leadership bodies.
Xi Targets Underperforming Cadres and Corruption
Xi began the meeting by delivering a work report and speaking about a draft policy decision on advancing full and rigorous party self-governance, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. The policy aims to make cadres more disciplined, effective and less corrupt. While Xi has consolidated his grip on power, analysts say the plenum will offer him an opportunity to further align what Chinese officials do with what Beijing wants.
Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser at London’s Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, stated that the plenum serves as a method to ensure upcoming generations share Xi’s perspective on the risks and opportunities facing the country. Xi’s anti-graft drive has been a defining feature of his rule since he came to power in 2012, with purges carried out on a scale that led critics to argue the campaign was also used to consolidate his power. However, his focus has expanded to cracking down on underperforming cadres, leading to a surge in officials punished for formalism and bureaucratism such as dereliction of duty, inaction, and reckless acts that hinder development.
Osman noted that disciplinary crackdowns are currently aimed more at institutional longevity rather than purging elite rivals. Mingda Qiu, senior analyst of Eurasia Group’s China practice, explained that officials are tested for compliance and action alongside loyalty. In a January meeting, Xi warned against two-faced people who profess political loyalty while privately defying orders, according to an article in the Qiushi Journal, emphasizing the need to elevate genuinely loyal and reliable cadres during leadership transitions.
Purges of Top Army Officials and Successor Outlook
Observers can gauge the extent of Xi’s purges by observing the number of empty seats in the conference hall this week. Neil Thomas of the Asia Society Policy Institute, alongside colleagues Lobsang Tsering and Shengyu Wang, pointed out that 42 out of 44 military-affiliated officials elected as full central committee members in 2022 have been purged or disappeared. Thomas and his colleagues estimated that turnout this week could fall below 80 percent, potentially setting a record low for any plenum since Mao Zedong’s rule ended in 1976.
Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, mentioned that new personnel appointments are possible, though Xi may wait until a once-in-five-years Communist Party Congress next year to anoint his picks, and any filled openings will go to loyalists. The underlying theme of the fifth plenum remains positioning Xi for an unprecedented fourth term in office, with the meeting expected to prepare the ground and reinforce expectations of political and policy continuity.
