China’s Communist Party has expelled 33 senior officials, including 16 military figures, in a disciplinary action that has sharply altered the composition of the country’s top military command body. The decision was confirmed in an official communique issued on Thursday, 29 October 2026, after a four-day meeting of the Party’s Central Committee in Beijing.
The removals come less than a year before the Communist Party’s 21st Congress, scheduled for the second half of 2027. President Xi Jinping, who has led China since 2012, is widely expected to seek an unprecedented fourth five-year term as general secretary. The latest action therefore combines a senior military personnel upheaval with preparations for a major party leadership transition.
Senior PLA figures among those expelled
Among the officials named were Zhang Youxia, formerly a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and Liu Zhenli, who headed the commission’s Joint Staff Department. Other prominent figures affected by the decision included former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui and former senior diplomat Liu Jianchao.
The official communique said the Central Committee had examined reports concerning serious violations of party discipline and the law. It did not provide specific details of the allegations against each official. The decision is therefore being reported as a party disciplinary action, rather than as a judicial finding against the individuals named.
- 33 officials were expelled from the Communist Party.
- 16 of those officials belonged to the military, according to BBC Monitoring.
- The CMC was left with only Xi Jinping and General Zhang Shengmin as serving members.
Command structure affected
The CMC oversees China’s armed forces and is chaired by Xi. Its latest reduction follows a wider shake-up of the People’s Liberation Army’s senior ranks. Zhang Youxia had been one of the country’s most senior military leaders, while Liu Zhenli held responsibility for the commission’s Joint Staff Department. Their expulsion removes two figures who occupied important positions in China’s military command structure.
General Zhang Shengmin, the remaining military figure alongside Xi on the commission, has been central to the PLA’s anti-corruption drive. He previously served as the military’s leading disciplinary official and oversaw investigations into senior officers accused of corruption and political disloyalty. His position gives him a central role as the party continues to tighten supervision of the armed forces.
The personnel changes also affect the political representation of the military. Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the Communist Party’s Politburo during the Central Committee meeting, becoming the only military representative in that body after the downfall of previous military representatives. According to Neil Thomas, a senior fellow specialising in Chinese politics at the Asia Society, Zhang was the first person to be promoted to the Politburo outside a party congress since 1994.
Significance for China’s military leadership
The CMC’s reduced membership places the current structure of China’s military leadership in an unusually narrow configuration. The commission is the body responsible for commanding the armed forces, while the PLA’s senior command has simultaneously been affected by the expulsion of several high-ranking officers. The official announcement did not set out a replacement structure or name additional serving members.
For India, the development concerns the senior leadership of the military of its major northern neighbour, including the institution that directs China’s armed forces. The announcement does not itself set out any change to China’s military policy towards India or to arrangements along the Line of Actual Control. Its immediate confirmed effect is the removal of senior party and military officials and the concentration of the CMC’s serving membership in Xi Jinping and General Zhang Shengmin as the 2027 party congress approaches.
