China's Xi opens Communist Party plenum, aims for firm governance measures

Meeting to address challenges party faces, including guarding against complacency, combating corruption

China's Communist Party ​began a meeting of senior cadres on Monday aimed at tightening discipline and pressing officials to implement Beijing's orders, ‌paving the way for a leadership reshuffle next year expected to extend President Xi Jinping's rule for another five years.

Xi briefed the party's four-day Central Committee meeting on a draft document centred on "full and rigorous party self-governance" that state news agency Xinhua said addressed the challenges the party faced, including ​growing its governing capacity, as well as guarding against complacency and combating corruption, the president's signature campaign.

The implementation of ​major decisions and plans of the Central Committee, the largest of its top decision-making bodies, must not ⁠be empty rhetoric, the Xinhua commentary read.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee on Monday started a four-day plenary session in Beijing, which focuses on strengthening Party self-governance. This marks the latest move by the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core to strengthen the Party… pic.twitter.com/ZOTQsQJk3k

— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) October 26, 2026

"It is essential to both refine institutional rules and regulations to close loopholes and strengthen ​safeguards, and ensure their effective implementation," it said.

Read: China's Communist Party ousts former ministers from Central Committee

The Central Committee will convene in a closed-door meeting from Monday to Thursday, the fifth ​such gathering since the current cohort was formed in 2022 and therefore known as the "fifth plenum".

Analysts say this could be the last major party gathering before its 2027 leadership reshuffle, when Xi is expected to hold on to the top job for a fourth term.

"The plenum will present Xi as ​in control, and able to continue his command," said Kerry Brown, director of King's College London's Lau China Institute. "It is likely ​everything will be centred on him, to dispel any rumours or doubts about his physical fitness and ability to continue in his role."

China’s Communist Party is gathering for its most important meeting of the year: the fifth plenum. Xi Jinping’s leadership purges and efforts to tighten party control are set to take center stage. Here’s what to watch for. https://t.co/TasreYLghF

— Bloomberg (@business) October 25, 2026

With substantive ‌policy issues ⁠already largely set in previous gatherings, "this will be a plenum where appearances will matter as much, if not more, than substance," Brown added.

Rooting out corruption for market predictability

Xi has overseen a vast anti-corruption campaign in recent years which has led to the purge of hundreds of senior officials and top generals, even the president's one-time allies.

Read More: China purges third Politburo member in deepening anti-graft drive

While some say the purges, particularly those targeting the highest ranks of ​the armed forces, are destabilising and ​undermine combat readiness, the party ⁠has portrayed the campaign as both necessary and regenerative, saying the military must undergo a phoenix-like rebirth and "bathe in flames and be forged anew".

The Xinhua commentary presented the anti-corruption drive as a ​demonstration of "sustained and systemic" self-governance to "ensure officials dare not, cannot and do not want to commit ​corruption".

"For global investors ⁠and policymakers, this signals greater predictability," it said, arguing that China was also creating a more transparent environment for international cooperation as merit and the rule of law prevail over connections and bribery.

Typically, seven plenums, each usually associated with a particular agenda, are held between ⁠major party ​congresses, which convene twice a decade. The party's constitution requires at least one ​plenum to be held every year.

The fifth plenum usually deliberates the country's strategic blueprint, the five-year plan, but an unusually late third plenum, delayed for more than half a year ​until mid-2024, has disrupted the conventional scheduling.