Beijing, Nov 7 (IANS) Empty seats and back-row observers at the Chinese Communist Party’s latest plenum hint at how Xi Jinping will remake the elite in 2027, with those who failed to turn up likely written off, a report said.

The fifth plenum of the CCP’s Central Committee, which closed on October 29, was not called to make appointments, but it still said a good deal about who is on the way up and who is finished, The Diplomat reported.

“Barring sudden illness, an empty seat at a plenum points to chronic ill health or political trouble. The committee elected in 2022 had 205 full members and 171 alternates; only 162 full members and 117 alternates turned up this time,” the report said.

The plenum confirmed the expulsion of 33 people, including Zhang Youxia, once Xi’s most senior general. Together with earlier casualties, such as two members of the military commission, He Weidong and Miao Hua, and former foreign minister Qin Gang, the number removed has reached 37 full members and 15 alternates.

“Nearly 20 more full members stayed away from the plenum, though only three are formally under investigation,” the report stated.

Among the absentees were Han Jun, who was removed as agriculture minister in April, navy commander Hu Zhongming and the air force’s political commissar Guo Puxiao, all three of whom are probably finished, according to the report.

The plenum promoted just one man, Zhang Shengmin, the sole remaining vice chair of the Central Military Commission (CMC), who joined the Politburo.

“Zhang Youxia’s fall left the armed forces with no one on the Politburo. The military is a vast interest group, and if it has no voice at the top, even on policies that touch both soldiers and civilians, resentment builds in the ranks,” The Diplomat stated.

According to the report, the CMC did not gain anyone, chiefly because Xi has too few full generals to choose from. Apart from Xi’s own post, only three of the commission’s posts are filled.

“The many members who missed the plenum without any announcement of their fall suggest that the investigations of the officer corps are far from over, and anyone Xi promotes must be clean, or the high command could collapse again,” it said.

The report said the commission is expected to be rebuilt at the 2027 Party Congress, the year of the army’s centenary.

Only 10 of the Central Committee’s 24 empty seats were filled, as Xi has become more careful about whom he elevates. Two names stand out among those promoted, Lu Dongliang, the Shanxi governor, and Liu Jie, governor of Zhejiang, the report said.

“Most party careers move step by step, so jumping the queue usually signals patronage from the top,” the report stated, pointing to observers such as Shanghai mayor Zhu Zhongming, who could follow the path of Cai Qi straight into the Politburo.

--IANS

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