The fourth plenum of China’s ruling Communist Party taking place this month will be closely watched for potential reshuffles, with at least nine members of its top policymaking Central Committee set to be replaced.
These changes are expected either due to ongoing corruption investigations or because some officials have passed away, marking a new high in turnover since 2017.
The fourth plenum is one of seven typically held during each five-year term of the Central Committee. The coming edition will be held between October 20 and 23 in Beijing and focus on outlining the next five-year plan.
The present committee was formed at the 20th party congress in 2022, with 205 full and 171 alternate members. Three members were replaced at the third plenum held in July last year, including former foreign minister Qin Gang.
The party accepted Qin’s resignation application during the plenum but still referred to him as “comrade”, suggesting he was under criminal investigation but remained a party member.
Li Shangfu, a former defence minister, and Li Yuchao, a former Rocket Force chief, were also expelled from the Central Committee and stripped of their party membership at the time. Both faced corruption investigations.
Further reshuffles are expected, given the downfall of more committee members since the third plenum.
Tang Renjian, a former agriculture and rural affairs minister, was put on trial this year following a months-long corruption investigation. He pleaded guilty to taking bribes, including cash and property worth over 268 million yuan (US$37.6 million), during his various roles from 2007 to 2024. He was sentenced to death with reprieve on September 28.
Several ongoing corruption investigations involve top financial, regional and military officials.
On September 6, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the country’s top anti-corruption watchdog, announced the detention of Yi Huiman, the former regulator of China’s equities market over serious breaches of discipline.
The news sent shockwaves through the financial sector.
Yi, who was chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission from January 2019 to February 2024, is the second top financial regulator of China’s US$12 trillion capital market to be investigated for corruption in a decade and the third to be fired since 2016.
Several officials leading China’s regional governments have also been caught up in the anti-corruption purge.
Those detained by the CCDI this year include Wang Lixia, former chairwoman of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Lan Tianli, former chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and Jin Xiangjun, former governor of Shanxi province.
On September 30, Inner Mongolia announced that Bao Gang, the party chief of its capital Hohhot, had been promoted to party chief of the regional government, effectively making him governor-in-waiting.
Meanwhile, Wei Tao, former party chief of the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province and Lu Dongliang, provincial deputy party secretary, have taken over as governors of Guangxi and Shanxi, respectively. This makes Lu, 51, the youngest of China’s top regional leaders.
Several members of China’s military brass have also been ensnared in the clean-up drive spearheaded by President Xi Jinping, who also chairs the Central Military Commission (CMC).
Under Xi, the anti-corruption campaign has targeted more than a dozen generals of the People’s Liberation Army and numerous defence industry executives in recent years.
Three members of the PLA top brass are likely to lose their Central Committee posts at the fourth plenum.
Among them is Miao Hua, an admiral who once oversaw the PLA’s ideology work. He was suspended from his post in November last year over suspected disciplinary violations and removed from the powerful CMC in June after being placed under investigation.
In September, China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, announced that four generals had been expelled as NPC deputies. They included two Central Committee members: People’s Armed Police commander Wang Chunning and Zhang Lin, head of logistics support at CMC.
Miao was similarly stripped of his NPC membership in April.
The death of Yu Jianhua, the former head of the General Administration of Customs, has created another Central Committee vacancy. Yu died in December after a sudden illness, according to an official announcement.
Observers will also keep their eyes peeled for potential announcements regarding three high-profile members who have disappeared from public view.
They are General He Weidong, the second-ranked vice-chairman of the CMC; senior diplomat Liu Jianchao, former head of the International Department, the Communist Party’s diplomatic arm; and Jin Zhuanglong, party chief of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
He, one of China’s most senior generals, last appeared in public on March 11 and has been absent from a series of key events, fuelling speculation about his whereabouts.
On September 30, Beijing appointed Liu Haixing, a veteran diplomat specialising in European affairs and a top deputy at the office of the National Security Commission, as the new head of the International Department, replacing Liu Jianchao.
Liu Jianchao has not been seen in public since July. According to previous reports by the South China Morning Post, sources indicated that he was detained shortly after returning from a work trip to Algeria.
Jin was removed from his leadership role in the party in February and from his ministerial position two months later. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
