China promotes sole remaining general to Politburo amid purge
The Communist Party elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin to its highest governing body and adopted a new resolution on internal discipline one year before the next leadership term begins.
By Harper Laurent ·
China's top leaders elevated Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo on Thursday, making him the only active general on the party's highest governing body. The promotion occurred during a four-day closed-door meeting in which Communist Party officials reviewed personnel changes and adopted resolutions on party discipline.
Zhang currently serves as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. He also acts as deputy secretary of the commission's discipline inspection body, which oversees internal military conduct. His appointment fills a vacancy left after President Xi Jinping removed two other senior generals from their posts. Those earlier dismissals had left the Politburo without any representation from the People's Liberation Army.
The party adopted a resolution aimed at strengthening self-governance and anti-corruption measures. The document states that the tasks facing the party are increasingly arduous, specifically citing the need to unite the population to safeguard national sovereignty and security. It calls for maintaining ideological purity and strengthening ties between the party and the people to enhance long-term governance capacity.
This meeting takes place approximately one year before President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a fourth five-year term as party leader. Officials used the session to confirm previous personnel changes and review the removal of top military and party members. The resolution emphasizes rooting out corruption while also addressing underperforming officials, a shift noted by political analysts.
Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at Asia Policy, calculated that the attendance rate at this plenum was 74 percent. He described this figure as the lowest since the era of former leader Mao Zedong. Thomas characterized the recent purges as wider than initially expected, indicating a stricter consolidation of power within the party hierarchy.
The party's summary of the resolution, released via the official Xinhua News Agency, highlighted the necessity of maintaining the party's progressive nature. It stressed that leadership must preserve close connections with the populace while enforcing strict internal controls to ensure stability in the coming years.
