• After mass purges inside military, Chinese ruling elite decides to promote Gen. Zhang Shengmin as vice chairman of Central Military Commission
• Zhang Fengzhong, senior general with PLA’s Rocket Force, has been placed under corruption probe
• ‘Super-low’ attendance suggests record purge of Central Committee, expert notes

ISTANBUL

China’s ruling Communist Party on Thursday said that while “strategic opportunities” for the world’s second-largest economy “exist,” the “uncertainties and unforeseen factors are rising.”

The remarks were made at the end of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which concluded its fourth plenary session in Beijing on Thursday, state media reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping chaired the plenum.

Over the past four days, the plenum discussed and adopted the recommendations of the CPC Central Committee for formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development of China for 2026-2030.

“At the session, a call was issued to the whole Party, the entire military, and Chinese people of all ethnic groups to rally more closely around the Party Central Committee with Xi at its core,” read a communique, released at the end of the session.

‘Super low’ attendance, record purges

The plenum is a convocation of the CPC Central Committee, which comprises the party’s top 205 officials, plus 167 alternate members – its decisions and recommendations are placed before the National People’s Congress -- China's parliament, which usually meets every March, for adoption.

The Central Committee is the highest authority in the CCP and is charged with selecting members of the party’s Politburo and other important appointments.

The communique released in Beijing said the upcoming Five-Year plan period will be “critical as the country works to reinforce the foundations and push ahead on all fronts toward basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035.”

“It will thus serve as a key link between the past and the future,” it added.

“China should build a modernized industrial system and reinforce the foundations of the real economy,” the communique noted.

It called for achieving “greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology and steer the development of new quality productive forces,” as well as building a “robust domestic market and work faster to foster a new pattern of development.”

According to New York-based Asia Society’s China analyst Neil Thomas, only 168 of the permanent 205 members and 147 of 171 alternates -- for a total of 315/376 (84%) -- had attended the four-day plenum.

“I believe that's a record low in the post-Mao (Zedong) era,” Thomas wrote on US social media company X.

“Super-low attendance suggests record purge of Central Committee,” he said about the communique.

‘Modernize military on schedule’

The committee also stressed the significance of achieving the centenary goals of modernizing the People's Liberation Army on schedule.

It promoted Gen. Zhang Shengmin as a vice chairman of the CPC Central Military Commission (CMC).

Zhang, who is secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection, is now number two in the military, after Gen. Zhang Youxia, who is first vice chairman of the commission, led by President Xi Jinping.

The decision came after the CPC expelled the commission’s vice chair, Gen. He Weidong, his commission colleague Adm. Miao Hua, and seven other military officials, who are not members of the CMC.​​​​​​​

Gen. He was removed from the 24-member CPC Politburo and his seat remains empty.

Last year, Gen. Li Shangfu, then-defense minister, was removed from the CMC, while his successor Adm. Dong Jun was not made a member of the military’s highest decision-making body.

This leaves the commission, which oversees the Chinese military in general, with only four members, including its leader President Xi – down from a customary six ordinary members plus Xi.

‘Near-record’ discipline of 14 members

The fourth plenum also placed Gen. Zhang Fengzhong, director of the political work department of the PLA Rocket Force, under suspension pending a corruption probe, according to the South China Morning Post.

It also decided to fill vacancies in the Central Committee by alternate members, including Yu Huiwen, Ma Hancheng, Wang Jian, Wang Xi, Wang Yonghong, Wang Tingkai, Wang Xinwei, Wei Tao, Deng Yiwu, Deng Xiuming, and Lu Hong.

According to Thomas, the Central Committee has seen “near-record discipline of 10 members and four alternate” members.

Xi “affirms PLA purges by promoting discipline boss Zhang Shengmin,” he added.

With the latest purges, the CMC, which oversees overall governance of operations of the military, is left with four members, including Xi.

“(It) looks like Xi will wait until the 21st Party Congress in 2027 to vet new CMC and Politburo members,” said Thomas.