The most important change concerns the Central Military Commission (CKW), a powerful army command body headed by the leader of the PRC, Xi Jinping. Gen. Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the position of vice-chairman of the Central Election Commission.
The former second-ranking vice-chairman of the Central Electoral Commission, General He Weidong, was expelled from the party for “serious violations of discipline and law”, which is a euphemism for corruption allegations.
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How many people were expelled from the Central Committee?
Who was promoted to vice-chairman of the CEC?
What were the reasons for General He Weidong's expulsion?
What changes have been made under the new five-year economic plan?
Removing him from office is unprecedented – this is the first dismissal of an incumbent general from the Central Election Commission since the Cultural Revolution. He Weidong, a member of the 24-member Politburo, was considered a close supporter of Xi.
He was replaced by 67-year-old Zhang, secretary of the Central Electoral Commission for Disciplinary Inspection, which supervises anti-corruption activities in the Chinese armed forces.
Changes in Beijing. “The biggest changes in years”
The 14 expelled members of the Central Committee included as many as eight high-ranking generals, which emphasizes the military dimension of the purge. All of them were removed from the party's ranks for “serious violations of discipline and law.” In their place, 11 people were promoted to “full members” of the Central Committee.
This is the largest staff turnover during a single meeting of the Central Committee since the 7th Plenum in 2017.
These changes are the result a broad anti-corruption campaign at the top that Xi has led since taking power in 2012. As a result, among others: The seven-member CEC has already lost three members since 2023.
According to a statement published by the Xinhua agency, the plenum also dealt with the draft of a new five-year economic development plan. It adopted a resolution on the “Recommendation for the formulation of the 15th Five-Year Plan” (2026-2030), the aim of which is to accelerate “high-quality development” and achieve “basic socialist modernization by 2035”.
