29th October 2026 – (Beijing) The Communist Party of China’s 20th Central Committee closed its Fifth Plenum today after confirming the expulsion of 33 senior members — the most at any Central Committee plenary since reform and opening began in 1978 — and elevating Central Military Commission vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo.
According to the official communique, the four-day closed session from 26th to 29th October was attended by 162 full Central Committee members and 117 alternates, or 279 in all. That is six fewer full members and 30 fewer alternates than the Fourth Plenum in October 2025, a drop of 36. The turnout equals about 74 per cent of the cohort elected at the 20th Party Congress in 2022, the lowest attendance share since 1978 and the first time under Xi Jinping’s leadership that a plenum has drawn fewer than 300 participants — a gap widely linked to anti-corruption clear-outs and other personnel upheaval.
Strict Party governance dominated the agenda. The gathering heard a work report delivered by General Secretary Xi Jinping on behalf of the Politburo and adopted a Central Committee decision on pressing ahead with comprehensive strict governance of the Party. Against that backdrop, large-scale discipline cases and leadership reshuffles became the meeting’s clearest signals.
The plenum endorsed review reports from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the Central Military Commission on serious disciplinary and legal violations, confirming earlier Politburo decisions to expel 33 people from the Party. Those named include former Politburo members Ma Xingrui and Zhang Youxia, former senior PLA officer Liu Zhenli, former International Department head Liu Jianchao, and former industry minister Jin Zhuanglong, together with Lan Tianli, Wang Lixia, Lei Fanpei, Yi Huiman, Wang Xiangxi, Sun Shaocheng, Wang Renhua, Liu Qingsong, Huang Ming, Li Qiaoming, Li Wei, Zhang Hongbing, Wang Haijiang, Zhang Lin, Wang Peng, Liu Faqing, Yang Cheng, Zhong Shaojun, Zhao Xiaozhe, Fei Dongbin, Wu Shenghua, Yu Jianfeng, Yuan Jie, Zhang Zhongyang, Wen Gang, Jin Donghan, Fang Hongwei and Fang Yongxiang. Sixteen of the 33 were handled through the military commission track. Alternate member Li Yunze, former head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, was confirmed as stripped of his Party posts rather than expelled.
The 33 expulsions are 19 more than those confirmed at last year’s Fourth Plenum. Taken with that meeting, the past two plenaries have together ratified 47 removals from the Party. General Zhang Shengmin, already installed as a CMC vice-chairman at the Fourth Plenum and a central figure in the recent drive that cut deep into the armed forces’ top ranks, was unexpectedly added to the Politburo, taking the body to 22 members after earlier vacancies left by purged leaders. The seven-strong CMC has itself been pared back so that Mr Xi remains chairman with Mr Zhang as the sole vice-chairman named in recent public line-ups.
Under the Party constitution the plenum also promoted ten alternates to full Central Committee membership: Lu Dongliang, Bao Gang, Xing Shanping, Qu Yingpu, Lyu Jun, Zhu Tianshu, Zhu Guoxian, Liu Jun, Liu Jie and Liu Qiang. It further decided that the 21st National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held in Beijing in the second half of 2027, opening the next twice-a-decade contest for top posts. The shrinking Central Committee presence, the record slate of expulsions and Mr Zhang’s rise together mark a sharp tightening of discipline as that succession horizon comes into view.