Xi Jinping Convenes Central Committee for Four-Day Discipline Session

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened a four-day closed-door session of the Communist Party’s Central Committee on Monday. The gathering, known as the fifth plenum, brings together approximately 300 senior officials to review party discipline and leadership standards. The meeting concludes on Thursday.

This session arrives roughly one year before Xi is projected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader. It precedes anticipated shifts in key leadership positions. Analysts view the plenum as a mechanism to align the conduct of rising officials with the priorities set in Beijing. Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London, told The Associated Press that the meeting allows Xi to ensure new generations of leaders share his assessment of China’s opportunities and risks.

Xi has pursued a 14-year anticorruption campaign that has removed thousands of officials, including dozens of Central Committee members. Despite these purges, he continues to criticize cadres for failing to implement directives. In a speech published by state media in January, he described some officials as “two-faced” and “politically opportunistic,” accusing them of inwardly resisting orders while pursuing individualism.

According to the official Xinhua news agency, the committee will debate a draft policy decision on “full and rigorous party self-governance.” The goal is to improve cadre effectiveness and reduce corruption. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, anticipates the final document will call for tighter scrutiny of public spending and major projects. He also expects the proposal to mandate wider use of technology to detect corruption and impose stricter penalties on officials who miss performance targets.

The anticorruption drive has left the Central Committee with its lowest expected turnout since the death of former leader Mao Zedong in 1976. Eight seats within the committee are currently vacant. An additional 15 members are under investigation and may be replaced during the session. The purge has extended to the military, where five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission have been removed. The plenum may approve new appointments to that body or restructure the party’s oversight of the armed forces.

The political discussions occur as China’s economy contends with weak domestic spending and a prolonged property sector crisis. Tensions with the United States also influence the strategic considerations of the party’s top leadership.