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Chinese leaders promote military general to Politburo after closed-door plenum

Gen. Zhang Shengmin joins the party's top body after purges left him the only other Central Military Commission member besides Xi Jinping.

Updated Oct 29, 2026 · 18:24 UTC2 reports

The short version

  • Top Chinese leaders elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, to the Politburo.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • The four-day closed-door meeting also adopted a resolution on self-governance, discipline and anti-corruption within the party.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Earlier purges of two top generals left the Politburo without People's Liberation Army representation until this promotion.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Analyst Neil Thomas calculated a 74% attendance rate, which he linked to wider-than-expected purges; the figure is his estimate.[NPR · Associated Press]

Key facts

  • China's top leaders on Thursday elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, to the Politburo, the party's top governing body.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • A four-day closed-door party meeting adopted a resolution on strengthening self-governance, discipline and anti-corruption.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Xi Jinping had earlier purged two of China's top generals, leaving Zhang as the Central Military Commission's only member besides Xi.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • The Politburo had no People's Liberation Army representatives until Zhang's elevation.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader about a year after this meeting.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Neil Thomas calculated a plenum attendance rate of 74%, which he described as the lowest since the era of Mao Zedong.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Mingda Qiu, a senior analyst at Eurasia Group, said the anti-corruption push should no longer be treated as a campaign and is here to stay.[Associated Press]

What remains uncertain

  • The 74% attendance rate is an outside analyst's calculation by Neil Thomas, not an official figure.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • Xi's fourth term is widely expected but had not been confirmed when the reports were published.[NPR · Associated Press]
  • The reporting does not detail the full scope of the purges beyond analyst commentary describing them as wider than expected.[NPR · Associated Press]

Sources

Outlet counts describe coverage, not independent confirmation. Reports may share a wire service or original source.