China Promotes General To Top Party Body

A 74 percent attendance rate marked the latest meeting of China's top party leaders, the lowest figure recorded since the Mao Zedong era. This statistic, calculated by Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at Asia Policy, highlights the scale of recent personnel removals from the Communist Party's inner circle.

On Thursday, the leadership group elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo. Zhang serves as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. This promotion restores military representation to the top governing body, which had lost its sole People's Liberation Army representative during earlier purges of two other senior generals.

The four-day closed-door meeting also produced a resolution focused on party self-governance and anti-corruption measures. The party stated that its tasks are increasingly arduous, requiring it to unite the population to safeguard national sovereignty and security. The resolution emphasizes maintaining ideological purity and strengthening the party's connection to the people.

President Xi Jinping has led anti-corruption efforts since 2012. While the crackdown has targeted officials for over a decade, analysts note that the current focus has expanded to include underperforming administrators. The party confirmed these personnel changes during the session, reviewing the removal of top members and military officials.

Zhang holds a dual role in the military hierarchy. In addition to his vice chairmanship, he serves as deputy secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection, a position overseeing internal discipline within the armed forces. This appointment places him in a key supervisory role ahead of the party's next leadership term.

The meeting occurred approximately one year before Xi is expected to secure his fourth five-year term as party leader. The resolutions adopted during this session will guide party operations in the coming years. The attendance numbers suggest a significant reduction in the number of senior leaders present compared to previous plenums.

The party's official summary, distributed via the Xinhua News Agency, called for enhancing long-term governance capacity. It instructed members to maintain their progressive nature and their ties with the populace. These directives set the framework for the party's internal management and external policy focus in the near future.