Reported by NPR World
From left Wang Gang, moderator; Hu Heping, Executive Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee; Zhang Fuhai, Deputy Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC and Vice Chairman of the National Commission of Supervision; Huang Jianfa, Executive Vice Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee; Tang Fangyu, Director of the Policy Research Office of the CPC Central Committee; Xie Chuntao, Executive Vice President of the Party School of the CPC Central Committee (National Academy of Governance) hold a press conference a day after the Communist Party Central Committee's fifth plenum close in Beijing, Friday, Oct. 30, 2026. Ng Han Guan/AP hide caption
BEIJING— China's ruling Communist Party concluded its most important meeting of the year, confirming the expulsion of 33 senior party members, as leader Xi Jinping's anti-corruption campaign continues to widen.
The political meeting, known as the fifth plenum, began on Monday and wrapped up on Thursday.
More from the original report
Of the 376 full and alternate central committee members originally named in 2022, only 279 attended – more than a quarter absent. Many of them are believed to be under investigation.
The focus of the meeting was on anti-corruption and discipline, but Joseph Torigian, a professor of Chinese studies at American University in Washington D.C., says the meeting sends another signal amid wide speculation that he will seek a fourth term in office next year.
"This is Xi Jinping setting up for the next party congress next year by ensuring that everybody is on the same page as him," he says.
The meeting reveals how much work Xi thinks his party still has to do to become a more effective, loyal governing institution, according to Neil Thomas, senior fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.
That is something he said Americans should also pay attention to, because it impacts the U.S. calculus on how willing China would be to use force over Taiwan, the South China Sea and disputes with the U.S.
"The focus of this fifth plenum suggests to me that Xi is unlikely to take that…