Beijing: The elite Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party replaced 11 members at a key meeting, Xinhua reported on Thursday, its highest personnel turnover since 2017 amid an ongoing military corruption purge.
Veteran Chinese general Zhang Shengmin, 67, was promoted to second-ranked vice chair of the powerful Central Military Commission, Xinhua said, quoting a party statement.
The statement was released on the last day of a key closed-door meeting of the 300-plus member body in Beijing known as the Fourth Plenum, which also discussed a five-year economic development plan to achieve technological self-reliance amid an intensifying rivalry with the United States.
Zhang, who currently serves on the CMC, replaces He Weidong, the former second-ranked vice chair who was expelled from the Communist Party last week on corruption charges along with eight other People’s Liberation Army generals.
It was the highest turnover at a single Central Committee meeting since 2017’s Plenum, when a record 11 members were replaced.
Since coming into power in 2012, President Xi Jinping has spearheaded a sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting the Party and government. Over the course of his first five-year term, he replaced a record 19 Central Committee members.
Zhang is currently head of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection, overseeing PLA anti-corruption efforts. He had a long career rooted in political work, having served for a long time in the Second Artillery Force, now the PLA Rocket Force. He also served a stint in the CMC’s General Logistics Department, also the target of anti-corruption probes in recent years.
He was promoted to the CMC in 2017 and became a full general the same year. He concurrently serves as deputy secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, China’s top anti-corruption body, wielding an unusually high degree of power for a military officer within the civilian Communist Party system.
Analysts say this reflects the exceptional degree of trust placed in him by Xi.
MILITARY PURGE
Eight of the generals expelled last week were also Central Committee members, and some of their investigations had not previously been disclosed.
“By purging these officers before the plenum altogether and all at once, Xi is sending a clear shot across the bow to the military high command ahead and asserting his dominance,” said Jon Czin, a People’s Liberation Army expert at the Brookings Institution.
He Weidong, formerly the second-ranked vice chair of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), was thought to have been a close military confidante of Xi. Both men served in Fujian province in the 1990s.
His removal is the first of a sitting general on the CMC since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. He Weidong was also part of the 24-member Politburo. A replacement for his role on the top policymaking body was not announced at the Plenum.
The formerly seven-member CMC headed by Xi has lost three members since 2023 in a string of anti-corruption probes.
One hundred and sixty eight full members of the Central Committee and 147 alternate members attended the plenum, according to the statement. The current Central Committee had 205 full members and 171 alternate members when it was chosen in 2022.
(Reporting by Laurie ChenEditing by Ros Russell anda Kim Coghill)