A closed-door gathering with high stakes
President Xi Jinping opened the fifth plenum of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing on Monday, according to state media, a session that observers will scrutinize for signals about the country's direction and its future leadership. Around 300 Central Committee members are taking part in the meeting, which state media said is aimed at tightening discipline inside the party's ranks.[S1][S2][S3][S5]
Among the proposals being weighed are efforts aimed at cutting down corruption while improving how cadres perform and how faithfully they serve. According to the Xinhua news agency, Xi introduced a draft resolution from the Central Committee that outlines long-range strategy for making party self-governance thorough and strict. Because the gathering is held behind closed doors under heavy guard, scant information is likely to emerge before it wraps up on Thursday.[S1]
Timing ahead of a leadership reshuffle
The choice of timing matters: the plenum takes place ahead of a major party congress scheduled for next year, where Xi, aged 73, is widely expected to win an unprecedented fourth term and to manage a reshuffling of the leadership. Past plenums have given Xi important openings to strengthen his grip on power.[S1]
Xi has pursued a 14-year anti-corruption campaign that has removed thousands of officials, including dozens from the Central Committee. He has nonetheless expressed frustration with cadres he believes are failing to carry out his orders. Ahead of the plenum, state media published an article drawn from a January speech in which Xi criticized officials he called two-faced, saying they appear to follow central directives while resisting them internally, act individualistically and behave as political opportunists.[S1]
Vacant seats and a strained economy
Analysts told AFP that Xi is seeking to maximize efficiency and loyalty among cadres by adding supervision and rules. As a consequence of his broad purges, this year's plenum is expected to record the lowest turnout since the death of former leader Mao Zedong in 1976. Eight Central Committee seats are vacant, and another 15 members are under investigation and could be replaced.[S1]
The anti-corruption drive has also reached the military, removing five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission, the party's top armed forces body. According to the Asia Society Policy Institute, only two of the 44 military members appointed to the Central Committee in 2022 have neither been purged nor disappeared. The plenum could appoint new members to the commission, the party could wait until next year's congress to refill it, or Xi might restructure party control over the military.[S1]
The talks take place at an unsettled moment for the world's second-largest economy, which has struggled with persistently weak domestic spending and a prolonged crisis in the key property sector. Turbulent political and economic relations with the United States are also weighing on China's leaders. Authorities are expected to publish a summary of the outcomes once the meeting closes on Thursday.[S1]
