China's Communist Party concluded its fifth plenum on Thursday with a record 33 members expelled and the most empty seats ever seen at a major annual political gathering. The four-day closed-door meeting, held at a hotel in Beijing, was attended by 279 Central Committee members - down from 315 at the fourth plenum in October 2025 and 364 at the third in July 2024. Nothing says "party discipline" quite like a shrinking guest list.

While recent plenums have focused on economic reforms or social and development issues, this week's gathering put party discipline front and centre. Xi Jinping, who has made the fight against corruption a central pillar of his rule since taking the reins in 2012, has called it the "biggest threat" to the party. Sixteen of the 33 expelled members are from the military, according to the communique issued Thursday. Specific charges? Beyond "serious disciplinary and legal violations," your guess is as good as ours - such broad allegations have become routine under Xi's anti-corruption campaign.

"It has now become an effort to consolidate and maintain authority," says Chong Ja Ian, a non-resident scholar with Carnegie China. "In this case, the campaign will continue and expand depending on how secure Xi feels rather than any real issue with corruption." The party's statement said it "squarely confronted the grim reality that party leadership had at times weakened or hollowed out" and vowed to "enforce strict party self-governance, including turning the knife inwards to... curb disorder." Turning the knife inwards - a metaphor that practically writes its own headlines.

The latest expulsions bring the total number of members removed under Xi's third term to a record 51, up from 34 and five in his first and second terms respectively. Beyond the plenum, China's top anti-corruption watchdog reported that 680,000 people across the party apparatus have been disciplined in the first nine months of this year. That's a lot of discipline. It's also the first time in Xi's 14 years of leadership that plenum attendance fell below 300. The current Central Committee started its term in 2022 with more than 370 members - so, progress, apparently.

Observers argue that Xi views corruption not just as graft but also ideological impurity and, crucially, disloyalty. In January, he warned against "two-faced cadres" who profess political loyalty but defy orders and act in their self-interest. Among the high-ranking officials expelled are former Xinjiang party chief Ma Xingrui, and ex-top generals Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli. Official statements announcing their removal this year said they were "seriously violating [the party's] discipline and rules," which is widely read as a euphemism for corruption. The culling of the military's top brass has been particularly significant, with Neil Thomas, Lobsang Tsering and Shengyu Wang from the Asia Society Policy Institute describing it as "in a category of its own." They wrote: "It raises serious questions about organisational leadership and combat readiness, even as China continues to unveil formidable new military hardware." Zhang was also vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, which controls the armed forces. The seven-member commission has since been whittled down to just two members: Xi as chairman and Zhang Shengmin as vice-chairman. Ma and Zhang Youxia were former Politburo members. Their removal, along with former general He Weidong in 2025, meant the powerful 24-man Politburo was at one point left with 21 members. Zhang Shengmin was promoted to the top decision-making body at the fifth plenum, bringing the number to 22. Former prominent diplomat Liu Jianchao, who disappeared from public view in July last year, was also named among those purged.

"Xi has few qualms about removing people he promoted," Chong says. "That he does so at will with little opposition underscores how unassailable his position is at the moment." Analysts believe one reason for the increased emphasis on discipline - which many interpret as loyalty - is next year's Party Congress, when the CCP will vote again for its next leader. A leadership reshuffle is due in 2027 and many analysts expect Xi to hold on to the top job for a fourth term and beyond. No leader has served that long except Mao Zedong, the founder of Communist China. Xi has reason to "scrutinise the next cohort more closely" given the fall of so many officials from the current committee, Thomas says. "Today's rising stars tend to be relatively young, boast technocratic backgrounds, and have connections to Xi's political network," he says, adding that "provincial leadership ranks are a promising place to look." Observers say that ultimately, Xi is expected to dominate personnel selection at the 21st Party Congress, which will further cement his grip on the party and the country. Because nothing says "stable leadership" like a record number of expulsions and a party that keeps turning the knife inwards.