Xi Opens CCP Plenum
Is ongoing attrition keeping the CCP effective or is it the product of a fear machine breeding paralysis?
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Above: Xi Jinping prepares to vote during the opening of the fifth plenary session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 12, 2023. Image credit: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
The Facts
- President Xi Jinping opened the Communist Party's fifth plenum in Beijing on Monday, a four-day closed-door gathering that precedes next year's party congress, where the 73-year-old is widely expected to secure a fourth term.
- The key items on the agenda are a draft decision on continuing "comprehensive and strict party governance" and a work report from the Politburo, as Xi presses officials for greater loyalty amid his years-long anti-corruption campaign.
- Scholars estimate about 291 of the 376 full and alternate Central Committee members elected in 2022 will attend, a drop of more than 20% and the lowest turnout since Mao Zedong's death in 1976. Eight committee seats sit vacant.
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The Spin
Pro-China narrative
Tough discipline is exactly what keeps a governing party honest and growth on track. Rooting out graft, putting power inside an institutional cage and holding officials to rule-of-law standards turn policy blueprints into real results for ordinary people. Self-reform like this is the strongest engine any party has for staying united, clean and effective.
Anti-China narrative
A discipline drive that keeps emptying chairs at the top signals a system running on fear rather than trust. Punishing over 100,000 cadres for box-ticking hasn't produced loyalty, only performative obedience, risk-averse officials and stalled local initiative. Endless purges without independent oversight deepen political and economic paralysis.
