What will China’s fifth plenum mean for the root-and-branch corruption drive?
Plenary sessions of the Central Committee, the upper echelon of China’s ruling Communist Party, are major events on the country’s political calendar. In the second part of this series, William Zheng and Alcott Wei examine how the fight against corruption is shaping the party’s future. When China’s political elites gather for a key conclave in Beijing later this month, the increasingly empty…
China's ruling Communist Party will hold its fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee later this month, an event that carries significant implications for the party's ongoing anti-corruption drive. The four-day closed-door meeting, set to take place from October 26 to 29, will also serve as a key platform for shaping the political momentum leading up to next year's quinquennial leadership transition, the 21st National Party Congress.
According to a tally by the South China Morning Post, 20 full and seven alternate members of the Central Committee are currently facing corruption investigations and await formal expulsion. Additionally, around 35 full and alternate members who did not attend last year's plenum have made no public appearances in the current cycle, which may signal potential trouble for their political careers.
The plenum will also see the endorsement of a document outlining a list of measures to maintain internal discipline, ensure political loyalty, and fight corruption. This focus on party governance comes seven years after a similar document that emphasized modernizing the nation's governing capacity. According to a senior researcher at the National Institute of Strategic Studies at Tsinghua University, the current emphasis on the party's governance is a response to the need for effective self-governance as the foundation for China's long-term governance.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been at the forefront of the anti-corruption campaign, issuing warnings in a January speech published in the party's theoretical journal Qiushi that internal regulations had become too vague. Xi called for systemic reforms to prevent "using a cattle pen to confine a cat," demanding new measures to combat corruption and uphold party discipline.
He also made reference to his latest political doctrine, "Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building," which was introduced in June and emphasizes the need for a "Marxist party with long-term governance."
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
