World · World News Bureau

Xi's discipline plenum: purged generals, Asia's risk

China's Communist Party opened its fifth plenum in Beijing on Monday, focused on discipline, as purges leave the Central Military Commission with just two members, according to Brookings. Outcomes are expected when the communique is released on Thursday. Why a hollowed-out PLA high command matters for Taiwan, the seas and Southeast Asia.

LSN World News · 26 October 2026

Xi's discipline plenum: purged generals, Asia's risk

<p><em>Special Reporting from LSN News, adapted from today's Asia Unfiltered episode. <a href="https://youtu.be/R_RaUtgmQP4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Watch the video on YouTube.</a></em></p>

<p>Behind closed doors in Beijing, around 300 of China's most powerful officials sat down on Monday for a four-day meeting about discipline. Analysts expect the room to be emptier than at any plenum since the Mao era: five of the seven men who ran China's military in 2022 are gone. So who is really steering the People's Liberation Army, and why should the rest of Asia care?</p>

<p>On Monday morning, the Communist Party's 20th Central Committee opened its fifth plenary session, which runs until Thursday, 29 October. According to Xinhua, Xi Jinping delivered a work report on behalf of the Politburo and explained a draft decision on what the party calls "full and rigorous Party self-governance" — in plain words, tighter control over the party's own officials. The final communique is expected on Thursday.</p>

<p>Days before the meeting, in an article in the party journal Qiushi, Xi set out three priorities, according to Reuters: enforce the leadership's decisions with uncontested authority; put the power of officials in "an institutional cage"; and keep the anti-graft campaign at high pressure, indefinitely. He also attacked "two-faced" officials who praise the leadership in public and resist it in private.</p>

<h2>Why now: the purges reach Xi's inner circle</h2>

<p>The plenum is expected to be the last major party meeting before the 21st Party Congress next autumn, where Xi is widely expected to secure a fourth term. And the purges have reached his own inner circle. The plenum is expected to ratify the expulsions of two former Politburo members, Zhang Youxia and Ma Xingrui, over charges that include corruption and disloyalty. Zhang was vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and was long seen as Xi's closest military ally. Reuters notes he was also the most senior officer with real combat experience, gained in the 1979 border war with Vietnam.</p>

<p>The numbers are stark. According to the Brookings Institution, the Central Military Commission has shrunk from seven members to just two: Xi himself and General Zhang Shengmin. Of the 44 military officers on the Central Committee in 2022, only 17 nominally remain. At last year's plenum, only 168 of the 205 full members attended, the lowest turnout of the post-Mao era. Jean Christopher Mittelstaedt of the University of Zurich told Reuters that this year's turnout will most likely be lower still.</p>

<p>Beijing sees it differently. The party says the military must "bathe in flames and be forged anew". Tian Shichen of the Chinese think tank Global Governance Institution told Reuters that removing corrupt elements strengthens, rather than weakens, the armed forces.</p>

<h2>Why it matters beyond China</h2>

<p>The People's Liberation Army operates every day close to its neighbours. On Sunday, as Beijing marked what it calls Taiwan Restoration Day, Taiwan's defence ministry reported five Chinese navy ships and eight other official vessels around the island. Song Tao, head of Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, pledged support for "patriots" in Taiwan who back unification. Chinese ships are a constant presence in the South and East China Seas, and Chinese troops face India's along the disputed Himalayan border.</p>

<p>Ruby Osman of the Tony Blair Institute told Reuters it is "hard to imagine upheaval on this scale wouldn't create issues for more complex operations", including a full-scale Taiwan contingency. There is also a second, quieter risk. Reuters reports that the vacancies could keep hampering China's contacts with foreign militaries, something diplomats see as critical. In a crisis at sea, the real question is who in Beijing picks up the phone.</p>

<p>Southeast Asia will feel this next month, when Manila hosts the ASEAN summit. As of mid-October, Manila said Beijing had yet to confirm who would attend.</p>

<h2>Analysis: control, not reform</h2>

<p>In LSN's analysis, this plenum is not about reform. It is about control. Xi is likely to leave the meeting more dominant than ever, and also more alone. Brookings puts it sharply: "Xi can replace the men but not the trust."</p>

<p>For Asia, a hollowed-out high command is not a safer one. A military led by untested commanders, who may fear their own leader more than they fear mistakes, could prove more cautious or more reckless, and its neighbours cannot tell which. The region should not cheer the purges. It should insist that the hotlines work, whoever answers them.</p>

<p><strong>What to watch:</strong> Thursday's communique — whether new generals join the Central Military Commission, whether Zhang Shengmin keeps his seat, and whether Xi's standing is elevated again. Then, whether Beijing sends its premier to Manila in November.</p>

<h2>Sources</h2>

<ul>

<li><a href="https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202610/26/content_WS6aded439c6d00ca5f9a0df12.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xinhua via gov.cn, 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://english.news.cn/20261026/f0b16b40d80f436881457e3c9fae5e48/c.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Xinhua, 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/tougher-discipline-and-xis-authority-key-at-chinas-communist-partys-fifth-plenum" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters via The Straits Times, 23 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/xis-party-what-to-look-for-at-the-upcoming-chinese-communist-party-plenum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brookings Institution, 23 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://theprint.in/world/analysis-chinas-purges-of-top-military-commanders-spur-questions-about-war-waging-ability/3050861/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reuters via ThePrint, 23 Sep 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://www.mnd.gov.tw/en/Publication/88059" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, 25 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://globalnation.inquirer.net/342125/palace-on-asean" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Inquirer, 15 Oct 2026</a></li>

<li><a href="https://biz.chosun.com/en/en-international/2026/10/26/BGDXWZ2OIZEXXAGOKG43VDYG6M/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Chosun Biz, 26 Oct 2026</a></li>

</ul>