China expels record 33 officials at fifth plenum

Beijing — China expelled a record 33 members of the Communist party's Central Committee at this week's fifth plenum in Beijing, a gathering of top officials that left an unprecedented number of seats empty and laid bare the scale of the purges under Xi Jinping, the Guardian reported.

Just 279 of the full and alternate members of the Central Committee attended, compared with the 376 originally named in 2022, meaning more than 25% of the original cohort were absent, many due to purges. According to the Guardian, it is the highest number of "empty chairs" at a plenum in modern Chinese history.

The confirmed expulsions included Zhang Youxia, formerly second-in-command to Xi in the military hierarchy, and Ma Xingrui, the former party secretary for Xinjiang. Other absences were unexplained.

The plenum's theme was party governance. Since taking power in 2012, Xi has made stamping out corruption a signature campaign, but in recent years it has intensified, reaching the highest ranks of the party and the military and raising questions about whether it is also being used to remove political rivals or punish disloyalty. Earlier this year Xi said the party must uproot "sick trees" and called the anti-corruption fight a "never-ending journey".

"More empty seats underscores the plenum's focus on Xi's vision of strict internal discipline," said Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society thinktank.

Successive purges have gutted the seven-man Central Military Commission, the ruling body of the People's Liberation Army, leaving just two members: Xi himself and the military's anti-graft chief, Zhang Shengmin. Zhang was promoted to the politburo this week and is now its only military member — a shift Wide World News covered earlier.

The plenum also laid the groundwork for the 21st Party congress, held every five years and expected in the second half of 2027, where Xi is expected to secure a fourth term — making him Communist China's longest-serving ruler since Mao Zedong. That congress will refresh the Central Committee and politburo, and many analysts believe the purges have been so wide-ranging that few suitable candidates remain for promotion. The next clear test will be who fills those ranks in 2027.