On Oct. 29, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) formally elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin to its Politburo and confirmed the expulsion of 33 senior officials at the conclusion of its Fifth Plenum, leaving Zhang as the military’s only representative in the party’s highest decision-making body.
The four-day gathering also recorded the lowest attendance rate at a Central Committee plenum since the Mao Zedong era, following a slew of investigations and disciplinary actions against senior civilian officials and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) commanders.
According to the official communiqué, 33 officials were expelled from the CCP, while Li Yunze, the former head of China’s financial regulatory agency, was stripped of his party positions. The disciplinary decisions included former Central Military Commission (CMC) Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia, former CMC Joint Staff Department chief Liu Zhenli, and former Politburo member Ma Xingrui.
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Shrinking military leadership
Zhang Shengmin, 68, is a Rocket Force general whose career has largely centered on political oversight and military discipline rather than frontline command. A native of Shaanxi Province, he previously served as political commissar of the PLA’s training and logistics organizations and deputy secretary of the CCP’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
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He became vice chairman of the Central Military Commission in October 2025 but did not immediately receive the Politburo seat traditionally associated with senior military leadership.
Analysts note that Zhang’s advancement comes after repeated probes removed senior commanders from the CMC, originally comprising seven members when the current leadership was formed in 2022. With five members since removed, Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin are the only two remaining members of that original commission. The plenum did not announce appointments to fill the other vacancies.
Zhang’s background in political discipline has also prompted speculation that the leadership is placing greater emphasis on internal control and political loyalty as it restructures the armed forces.
33 expulsions
The plenum communiqué confirmed earlier Politburo decisions to expel 33 officials for what Chinese authorities described as “serious violations of discipline and law,” the standard phrase used in corruption probes. Among them were former Politburo member Ma Xingrui, former senior diplomat Liu Jianchao, former industry minister Jin Zhuanglong, and former securities regulator Yi Huiman.
The military accounted for a substantial share of the disciplinary cases, including Zhang Youxia, Liu Zhenli, and numerous commanders holding senior positions across the armed forces. Separately, Li Yunze received a penalty removing him from his internal party posts rather than expulsion.
According to an Oct. 30 report by Chinese financial publication Caixin, the 33 expulsions included 24 full Central Committee members and nine alternate members. The scale of the disciplinary action reflects the extensive turnover within China’s political and military leadership.
Plenum attendance falls to post-Mao low
The official communiqué recorded attendance of 162 full Central Committee members and 117 alternate members, totaling 279 participants. The Central Committee originally comprised 205 full members and 171 alternates elected at the CCP’s 20th National Congress in 2022, for a combined total of 376.
That puts attendance at approximately 74.2 percent of the original membership, compared with 83.8 percent at the Fourth Plenum in October 2025. The latest figure was also below the 77.4 percent attendance rate projected ahead of the meeting by analysts at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.
According to the Associated Press (AP), Asia Society Policy Institute analyst Neil Thomas described the attendance rate as the lowest since the Mao Zedong era, suggesting that the purges were more extensive than previously anticipated.
Leadership shake-up continues
The plenum also promoted 10 alternate Central Committee members to full membership, filling some of the vacancies left by previous removals. Party leaders adopted a resolution calling for continued strict internal governance and disciplinary enforcement, with Xi Jinping emphasizing political loyalty and strengthened supervision of officials.
The meeting also confirmed that the CCP’s 21st National Congress will take place in Beijing during the second half of 2027. Zhang Shengmin’s elevation and the extensive disciplinary changes leave significant vacancies in China’s military leadership roughly one year before that gathering.
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