Xi Opens Low-Turnout Party Session: Discipline and Loyalty in Focus

Chinese President Xi Jinping opened a four-day plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee on Monday. The closed-door session focuses on strengthening party discipline and ensuring loyalty among the country's political elite. The gathering brings together approximately 300 members of the committee to debate internal governance rules.

This year’s meeting marks the lowest turnout for the Central Committee since the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Eight seats on the committee are currently vacant. An additional 15 members are under investigation and may be replaced before the session concludes. The reduced attendance reflects the impact of Xi’s extensive anticorruption campaigns, which have removed thousands of officials over the past 14 years.

The timing of the plenum is strategic. It occurs roughly one year before Xi is widely expected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader. The meeting also precedes anticipated personnel changes within key leadership bodies. Analysts view the session as an opportunity for Xi to align the conduct of rising officials with his political vision.

Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London, stated that the plenum serves to ensure new generations in leadership share Xi’s assessment of China's opportunities and risks. She noted that previous plenums have helped cement Xi's authority. Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, expects the committee to call for closer scrutiny of public spending and the use of technology to uncover corruption.

Xi has criticized officials he describes as "two-faced" and "politically opportunistic" in a speech published by state media in January. He accused these cadres of complying with directives on the surface while resisting them internally. The party plans to discuss a draft policy decision on "full and rigorous party self-governance" to make cadres more disciplined and less corrupt.

The anticorruption drive has extended to the military, resulting in the removal of five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission. The plenum may bring new appointments to this body or restructure the party's control over the armed forces. These political maneuvers occur as China's economy faces weak domestic spending and a prolonged property crisis, alongside turbulent relations with the United States.