Xi Jinping’s fifth plenum focuses on party loyalty and governance

Chinese Communist Party Convenes Fifth Plenum Focused on Political Loyalty

The Chinese Communist Party kicked off its fifth plenum on Monday, bringing together the Central Committee’s roughly 200 voting members and about 170 nonvoting alternates in a meeting centered on party self-governance and internal loyalty, foreignpolicy.com reported.

Operating on a five-year cycle, the gathering includes Chinese President Xi Jinping alongside military leaders, department heads, regional leaders, and the mayors and party secretaries of major cities. While smaller groups informally settle agendas and outcomes in advance, fifth plenums have traditionally focused on the management of China’s semi-planned economy.

This week’s agenda instead targets party self-governance, encompassing both anti-corruption efforts and political loyalty to Xi. The shift suggests that Xi might be worried his long-running anti-corruption campaigns and purges are not paying off. When Xi took office in 2012, he was empowered by a consensus among senior leaders that corruption and slackening party control threatened the CCP’s legitimacy. Yet the generation of leaders he elevated to replace the corrupt leadership that preceded him has turned out to be just as corrupt.

Power Rooted in Formal Structures and Security Control

Plenums especially matter to Xi because his power is rooted in the CCP’s formal structures, unlike Mao Zedong, who bypassed formal structures to attack his enemies and strengthen his personality cult during the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping also operated outside formal structures, relying on informal networks cultivated over decades.

Xi does not have those options. His personality cult operates purely at the surface level, and his political persona is built around hierarchy and order rather than revolution. Nor does Xi have the intricate personal networks that Deng used to sustain his influence. Despite being born to one of the founding fathers of the People’s Republic of China, Xi has failed to forge tight connections with fellow princelings and has instead turned against former allies like the recently disgraced top general Zhang Youxia.

As a result, Xi’s power stems almost entirely from his formal position, including his control of the CCP’s internal security services. Because of this reliance, it is extremely difficult for him to ever replicate the informal éminence grise role that Deng enjoyed, where massive influence was maintained long after stepping down from official titles. Retirement carries high risks, leaving him more likely to either die in office or be forced out of it.

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Plenums follow a regular cycle, but the current shift toward internal party governance reflects enduring anxieties over loyalty and administrative control within the Central Committee.