China expels record 33 from party, 16 of them military

China’s Communist Party expelled a record 33 members as its fifth plenum closed on Oct. 29, including former Politburo members Ma Xingrui and Zhang Youxia, according to the plenum’s communique released by state media Xinhua.

Sixteen of the 33 are from the military, the BBC reported, and the Central Military Commission, once seven members strong, has been reduced to two: Chairman Xi Jinping and Vice-Chairman Zhang Shengmin.

The communique, reported by Reuters, also named former military official Liu Zhenli, former senior diplomat Liu Jianchao, former industry minister Jin Zhuanglong and Yi Huiman, the former chairman of China’s securities regulator. Li Yunze, the former head of the financial regulator, was removed from his position within the party, it said.

The party said those expelled committed “serious disciplinary and legal violations,” the BBC reported in a story carried by Graphic Online of Ghana. It is unclear what specific charges they face. Official language of this kind is widely read as a euphemism for corruption.

The four-day closed-door meeting in Beijing also had the most empty seats on record. The BBC reported 279 Central Committee members attended, down from 315 at the fourth plenum in October 2025 and 364 at the third plenum in July 2024. It was the first time in Xi’s 14 years as leader that attendance fell below 300.

A total of 51 members have now been removed during Xi’s third term, the BBC said, compared with 35 in his second term and five in his first. The party’s top anti-corruption watchdog has said 680,000 people across the party apparatus were disciplined in the first nine months of this year.

Zhang Youxia, who was vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, is the most senior military figure on the list. Former general He Weidong was removed in 2025. Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the Politburo at the plenum, which the BBC said brings the 24-seat body to 22 members after earlier removals.

Analysts at the Asia Society Policy Institute, Neil Thomas, Lobsang Tsering and Shengyu Wang, said the culling of top brass is “in a category of its own.” They said it “raises serious questions about organisational leadership and combat readiness, even as China continues to unveil formidable new military hardware.”

Chong Ja Ian, a non-resident scholar at Carnegie China, said the campaign “will continue and expand depending on how secure Xi feels rather than any real issue with corruption.” He said Xi has few qualms about removing people he promoted, which underscores how unassailable his position is at the moment.

The BBC said analysts link the emphasis on discipline to the party congress due next year, when Xi is widely expected to seek a fourth term.

For Canada, the shake-up matters because China is a major trading partner and a counterpart in security talks. Prime Minister Mark Carney met Xi on the margins of the APEC summit in South Korea a year ago, as we reported. Neither the Reuters nor the BBC reports described any direct effect on Canada.

The expulsions come after Canada News Media’s recent coverage of China’s naval activity near the Philippines and its record export surplus.

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Photo: File photo of Xi Jinping meeting U.S. President Donald Trump in Busan, South Korea, on Oct. 30, 2025, not from the plenum. Official White House photo, public domain.

Via Reuters and the BBC. Details are from the plenum communique as reported by those outlets; Canada News Media did not read the communique directly.