CHINA President Xi Jinping's sweeping purge of senior Communist Party officials has left the party with a record number of vacant positions ahead of its annual leadership meeting, highlighting the scale of his campaign to tighten internal discipline.
Foreign news agencies reported that a total of 33 senior officials were expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC), marking the largest number of removals recorded at a plenary session focused on enforcing party discipline.
The fifth plenum, held this week, also set the 21st Party Congress for the second half of 2027 in Beijing, formally beginning preparations for the next five-year leadership reshuffle.
Xi is widely expected to seek another five-year term.
According to a summary of the proceedings released by state news agency Xinhua, only 279 full and alternate members of the Central Committee attended the meeting, compared with the 376 appointed in 2022.
The attendance rate of 74.2% meant that more than a quarter of the original membership was absent, marking the highest level of absenteeism in the party's modern history. Many of those missing were affected by the purge.
The crackdown has also severely weakened the Central Military Commission, China's highest military command body, with five of the seven members appointed in 2022 removed.
This leaves Xi and vice-chairman Zhang Shengmin, a senior disciplinary official, as the commission's only remaining members. Zhang was also elevated to the Politburo during the latest plenum.
In its official statement, the party said it had confronted serious problems arising from weakened leadership and lax internal governance.
It pledged to continue enforcing strict self-governance and take firm action against disciplinary violations within its ranks.
The 33 officials whose expulsions were formally confirmed included former Politburo member Ma Xingrui and former Central Military Commission vice-chairman Zhang Youxia.
The latest purge comes as the party prepares for its 2027 congress, where the composition of its next leadership team will be decided. Xi is widely expected to seek a fourth term as party leader. - October 31, 2026
