World

General Zhang Shengmin Promoted to Politburo Amid Xi’s Military Purge

By Sayantani Biswas

General Zhang Shengmin, the military official who has led President Xi Jinping’s anti‑corruption campaign in the armed forces, was promoted to the Communist Party’s Politburo on Thursday after a four‑day Central Committee meeting. Zhang, who serves as vice‑chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), becomes the only military representative on the Politburo. The appointment comes as Xi prepares for a major leadership reshuffle in 2027, when the party will decide whether he will seek a fourth five‑year term as general secretary.

Zhang previously oversaw investigations into senior officers accused of corruption and political disloyalty. His promotion gives the military a direct voice in the Party’s principal decision‑making body, which had been without military members since the downfall of previous representatives. According to Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society, Zhang is the first person to be promoted to the Politburo outside a party congress since 1994.

The move follows a sweeping purge of the People’s Liberation Army’s senior ranks. Former CMC vice‑chairman Zhang Youxia, once the military’s highest‑ranking official after Xi, was expelled from the Party and the military on accusations of disloyalty and factionalism. The CMC now has only two members: Xi Jinping and Zhang Shengmin.

The Central Committee communiqué also confirmed disciplinary action against several other senior officials, including former Xinjiang Party chief Ma Xingrui, former technology minister Jin Zhuanglong, and former head of the Party’s International Department Liu Jianchao, who had been absent from public view since August last year. The communiqué emphasized enforcing Party discipline and intensifying the anti‑corruption campaign.

The fifth plenary session called for stronger oversight of officials and pledged to pursue corruption through stricter controls on the exercise of power. It also confirmed that the next National Congress will take place in the second half of 2027.

A total of 34 senior civilian and military figures, all full or alternate members of the Central Committee, faced disciplinary penalties. Attendance was unusually low, with only 162 of the 205 full members and 117 alternate members present, a turnout described by analysts as one of the weakest in the post‑Mao era. Ten alternate members were elevated to full membership to fill seats left vacant by those punished, including regional administrators and economic officials such as Shanxi governor Lu Dongliang, Zhejiang governor Liu Jie, Inner Mongolia government chairman Bao Gang, and Shandong capital Jinan party chief Liu Qiang.