Xi Opens Party Session as Eight Committee Seats Remain Empty

Chinese President Xi Jinping convened the fifth plenum of the Communist Party Central Committee on Monday, launching a four-day closed-door session. The meeting brings together approximately 300 committee members to review measures for strengthening internal party discipline. This gathering marks the lowest turnout for such a session since the death of former leader Mao Zedong in 1976.

The low attendance reflects recent personnel changes within the party's hierarchy. Eight seats on the Central Committee are currently vacant. Additionally, 15 other members are under investigation and may be removed from their positions before or during the proceedings. These vacancies stem from a 14-year anticorruption campaign that has purged thousands of officials, including dozens of current committee members.

The timing of the plenum occurs roughly one year before Xi is expected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader. The session precedes anticipated shifts in key leadership bodies. Ruby Osman, a senior policy adviser at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change in London, noted that the meeting allows the party to ensure rising officials align with Xi's views on China's opportunities and risks. She added that previous plenums have helped solidify the leader's authority.

Xi has expressed frustration with officials who fail to execute his directives. In a January speech published by state media, he criticized "two-faced" leaders who comply outwardly but "inwardly resist." He described these cadres as "politically opportunistic" and driven by "individualism." The party aims to make officials more disciplined, effective, and less corrupt through a draft policy decision on full and rigorous party self-governance.

Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute, predicts the committee will call for closer scrutiny of public spending and major projects. He also expects wider use of technology to uncover corruption and tougher penalties for officials who do not meet the party's priorities. The anticorruption drive has also impacted the military, removing five of the seven members of the Central Military Commission.

The plenum may result in new appointments to the military commission, potentially restructuring the party's control over the armed forces. The discussions happen while China, the world's second-largest economy, faces weak domestic spending and a prolonged crisis in its property sector. Tensions in political and economic relations with the United States also weigh on the leadership's agenda during the session.