Plenum: General Zhang Joins Politburo After Xi Jinping Purges Rivals
The Communist Party’s top leadership body gained its first military member in years during a closed-door session that also ratified strict new anti-corruption rules.
By Carlos Rousseau ·
Chinese Communist Party leaders voted on Thursday to elect Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo, the party’s supreme decision-making group. Zhang currently serves as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and holds a key role in military discipline. His elevation marks the first time a general has joined the top governing body since President Xi Jinping removed two senior military rivals from their posts.
The decision came at the end of a four-day closed-door meeting in Bangkok. During the session, top leaders approved a resolution focused on strengthening party discipline and self-governance. The gathering serves as a critical checkpoint ahead of next year, when Xi is expected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader.
Before the vote, the Politburo lacked any representation from the People's Liberation Army. Xi’s earlier purge of top generals left Zhang as the only other member of the Central Military Commission besides the president. He also serves as deputy secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection, a position that oversees internal military conduct. By placing Zhang in the Politburo, the leadership reasserts military influence in the highest circles of power.
The party issued a summary of the new resolution through the official Xinhua News Agency. The document stated that the tasks facing the party are increasingly arduous. It cited the need to unite and lead the people to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests. The resolution also mandated a focus on rooting out corruption and maintaining ideological purity to enhance long-term governance capacity.
Xi has championed an anti-corruption campaign since taking power in 2012. For more than a decade, the crackdown targeted officials for misconduct. Analysts now note that the focus has expanded to include underperforming officials. The party used the plenum to review and confirm the earlier personnel changes involving top military and party members.
Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at Asia Policy who studies Chinese politics, calculated that the plenum saw an attendance rate of 74 percent. He described the absence rate as lower than expected. This level of non-attendance is the lowest recorded since the tenure of former leader Mao Zedong, who regularly conducted political purges. The low turnout underscores the scale of the recent personnel shifts within the party hierarchy.
