Xi’s Anti-corruption Drive Faces Scrutiny at Key China Meeting
WHO:
NPR - Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, said the plenum could help ensure rising generations of officials share Xi’s assessment of China’s opportunities and risks.
NPR - Mingda Qiu, senior analyst at Eurasia Group’s China practice, said officials are tested not only for loyalty but also for compliance and action.
NPR - Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute, said Xi may wait to appoint replacements until the next Party Congress; any appointments before then would be loyalists.
BBC News - Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are central to the meeting and its focus on discipline.
The Guardian - Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, said Xi’s worldview links corruption with political disloyalty.
The Guardian - Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society thinktank, said Xi has strengthened his control and made the party less corrupt.
The Guardian - Zhang Youxia, China’s top general and second in the military hierarchy after Xi, was placed under investigation and expelled from the party; he was removed from the Central Military Commission (CMC).
The Guardian - Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the CMC’s head of discipline, are the commission’s remaining members.
The Guardian - Other recent targets include Ma Xingrui, former party secretary for Xinjiang, and Huang Qifan, former mayor of Chongqing. Huang had survived scandals involving Bo Xilai, former Chongqing party boss, and British businessman Neil Heywood. Bo was convicted of bribery and embezzlement and is serving a life sentence.
WHAT:
Al Jazeera - The fifth plenum has roughly 300 Central Committee members attending.
Al Jazeera - Eight Central Committee seats are vacant, and 15 other members are under investigation and at risk of replacement.
Al Jazeera - The military purge has toppled five of the Central Military Commission’s seven members.
Al Jazeera - The plenum could bring new CMC appointments and a possible restructuring of the party’s control over the military.
Al Jazeera - China’s economy is facing sluggish domestic spending and a prolonged crisis in the property sector; turbulent economic and political ties with the United States are also weighing on its leaders.
NPR - Xi opened the meeting with a work report and remarks on a draft policy decision on “full and rigorous party self-governance,” intended to make cadres more disciplined, effective and less corrupt.
NPR - The Central Committee began its term with more than 370 full and alternate members; analysts estimated attendance at the meeting could be below 80%, potentially a record low for a plenum since 1976.
NPR - Analysts Neil Thomas, Lobsang Tsering and Shengyu Wang said 42 of 44 military-affiliated officials elected as full Central Committee members in 2022 had been purged or disappeared.
NPR - Xi’s campaign has expanded to officials accused of “formalism” and “bureaucratism,” including dereliction of duty, inaction and reckless acts that hinder development.
BBC News - A highly secretive four-day plenum is scheduled to begin in Beijing on Monday; it could see Xi tighten discipline in the CCP.
The Guardian - The fifth plenum is set to address “major issues on advancing the party’s full and rigorous self-governance”; state media language uses “governance” to refer to discipline, loyalty and anti-corruption.
The Guardian - Chinese disciplinary authorities opened investigations into more than 1 million people last year, including more than 100 officials at or above ministerial or provincial level.
The Guardian - The CMC, normally a seven-member body, has been reduced to two members.
The Guardian - The fifth plenum is the fifth of seven gatherings normally held in each five-year cycle between CCP congresses and brings together more than 300 Central Committee members.
The Guardian - The meeting is likely to be the last substantive one before the 21st Party Congress, where a new Central Committee will be chosen and Xi is expected to be appointed to a fourth term as CCP head.
WHERE:
BBC News - The plenum is to take place in Beijing.
The Guardian - Zhang’s investigation and party expulsion, and the CMC changes, concern China’s senior party and military leadership.
WHY:
NPR - Ruby Osman said the disciplinary crackdown is increasingly aimed at institutional longevity, building a system that can sustain Xi’s political priorities across leadership cycles rather than primarily purging elite rivals.
NPR - Osman said record-high disciplinary campaigns do not necessarily indicate a rebound in corruption, but may reflect Xi steadily raising expectations for officials.
Al Jazeera - Xi has said cadres remain frustratedly slow to implement his orders; in a January speech, he criticized officials who appear to comply while inwardly resisting, acting politically opportunistically, or pursuing individualism.
NPR - Xi warned against “two-faced people” who profess political loyalty while privately defying orders; he said good cadres should be loyal, reliable, consistent in word and deed, and willing to take responsibility.
The Guardian - Brown said that in Xi’s worldview, “If you’re corrupt, you’re not politically loyal. If you’re politically loyal, you’re not corrupt”; he also described “spiritual corruption” as including political disloyalty.
The Guardian - Thomas said Xi keeps tightening discipline because tougher punishment cannot fully stop officials from putting personal interests ahead of the party; Xi has made anti-corruption a permanent governing method.
The Guardian - Xi has warned the party could “lose its ruling status and inevitably be eliminated by history” if it failed to put its house in order.
The Guardian - Brown said corruption investigations are an easy and natural tool for enforcing unity and discipline.
HOW:
NPR - Neil Thomas expected tighter scrutiny of public spending and major projects, greater use of technology to uncover corruption, and tougher consequences for officials who fail to carry out Xi’s priorities.
The Guardian - Investigations into corruption nearly always result in convictions, raising questions about whether targets are guilty of corruption or are political rivals, the article reports.
The Guardian - Analysts say corruption can be a feature of an authoritarian, top-down system with a sprawling bureaucracy governing 1.4 billion people.
(UPDATED October 26, 2026 19:20 UTC)
China’s Communist Party is holding a high-stakes meeting in Beijing as President Xi Jinping’s purge has reduced the normally seven-member military commission to just two, with top general Zhang Youxia expelled and under investigation. The plenum is focused on tightening party discipline and could bring new military appointments, as officials face scrutiny for disloyalty, inaction and corruption amid economic pressures. Xi says cadres must carry out his orders faithfully, while analysts say the campaign is also intended to make his political priorities endure across future leadership cycles.
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(UPDATED October 26, 2026 17:07 UTC)
Xi Jinping opened a secretive four-day Communist Party meeting in Beijing focused on tighter discipline and anti-corruption, warning officials against professing loyalty while defying orders. The campaign has swept through the senior military leadership: top general Zhang Youxia was expelled and removed from the Central Military Commission, which now has just two members, while analysts say dozens of military-affiliated officials have been purged or disappeared. Xi’s proposed measures include closer scrutiny of public spending and major projects, more technology to uncover corruption, and tougher penalties for officials who fail to carry out his priorities.
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(UPDATED October 26, 2026 08:11 UTC)
China’s ruling Communist Party is preparing for a secretive four-day meeting in Beijing, where President Xi Jinping is expected to reinforce discipline and loyalty. The fifth plenum brings together more than 300 Central Committee members and will focus on what state media calls rigorous self-governance, including anti-corruption efforts. The campaign has reached the military’s top ranks: Zhang Youxia, China’s second-highest military official, is under investigation, expelled from the party and removed from the Central Military Commission. The commission, normally seven members, now has just two: Xi and its discipline chief. Authorities investigated more than 1 million people last year, including over 100 senior officials. Analysts say Xi treats corruption as evidence of political disloyalty, while investigations can also help enforce unity. They note that convictions are common, raising questions about whether some targets are corrupt or political rivals.