{"id":237707,"date":"2025-10-20T03:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/237707\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T03:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T03:43:12","slug":"roiled-by-purges-and-buffeted-by-us-frictions-chinas-leadership-meets-to-chart-countrys-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/237707\/","title":{"rendered":"Roiled by purges and buffeted by US frictions, China\u2019s leadership meets to chart country\u2019s rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is convening a key political meeting this week where he will push forward his next five-year strategy to strengthen the world\u2019s second-largest economy<\/a> in the face of mounting friction with the United States.<\/p>\n

The gathering, known as the fourth plenum, provides an opportune moment for Xi to showcase China\u2019s brand of highly choreographed economic planning and his tight control over its political apparatus, days before a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of an international summit in South Korea.<\/p>\n

It will be closely monitored by outsiders for clues about the inner workings of China\u2019s opaque ruling Communist Party. Intrigue heightened on Friday, when state media announced the ousting of China\u2019s No. 2 general<\/a>, the highest-ranking casualty yet of Xi\u2019s ongoing anti-corruption purge of the armed forces.<\/p>\n

The conclave comes at a critical time for Beijing. China\u2019s leadership sees itself as navigating an increasingly hostile global landscape \u2013 with US trade frictions and mounting restrictions on Chinese access to Western technology \u2013 while also grappling with deep-seated economic challenges at home.<\/p>\n

More than 300 full and non-voting delegates of the powerful Central Committee will gather in Beijing for the closed-door plenum, one of seven meetings typically held within five years, between party congresses.<\/p>\n

Gathered elites will focus on reviewing proposals for China\u2019s next five-year plan, a strategic blueprint for national priorities, which will set the tone for how the country handles mounting global and domestic stressors.<\/p>\n

The upcoming plan, which will run from 2026 through the end of the decade, is expected to emphasize China\u2019s economic security and technological innovation in sectors like artificial intelligence, quantum computing, new energy and biotechnology.<\/p>\n

But that won\u2019t be the only item on the agenda, and the conclave may also include a personnel reshuffle if new officials are appointed to key roles vacated by those purged.<\/p>\n

\"Employees<\/p>\n

Employees work to assemble air fryers at a factory in Ningbo, China earlier this year. – Go Nakamura\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The next five-year plan<\/p>\n

Full details of the upcoming five-year plan will not emerge until after it is approved by China\u2019s rubber-stamp legislature in March next year. But Xi has already given strong hints about his priorities as he looks to adjust China\u2019s economic strategy to ensure \u201chigh-quality development\u201d for the rest of the decade.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a decade that Xi could well see out in power. The strongman leader broke precedent to remain head of the party and the state for a third term starting in 2022, and has so far avoided elevating an heir apparent.<\/p>\n

Xi earlier this year called on provincial leaders to spend the next five years focusing on the development of emerging and future industries and breakthroughs in core and cutting-edge technologies, while also coordinating \u201cdevelopment and security\u201d and considering \u201cinternal and external risks.\u201d<\/p>\n

China has already made sweeping advances in high-tech industries, like electric vehicles, solar panels and batteries, and is fast catching up with the US in other advanced areas like semiconductors, AI and biotech \u2013 sectors included in the current five-year plan, which ends this year.<\/p>\n

But the country\u2019s industrial innovation has also been marred by production overcapacity. A surge of production has fueled frictions with trade partners that accuse China of flooding global markets, while also contributing to persistent deflation and price wars between competing firms at home.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s slowing economy also needs rebalancing as it faces a prolonged property slump, persistent deflation, weak consumer demand and high youth employment, as well as longer-term concerns like its rapidly aging and shrinking population.<\/p>\n

But many observers expect Xi will largely look to stay the course he\u2019s already charted for China, while making some targeted adjustments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are few reasons to expect that a new five-year plan would deviate, considering that Xi Jinping has been in control of the whole system now very definitively \u2026 and doesn\u2019t need to have a big headline (initiative)\u201d at this stage, said Jacob Gunter, who heads the economy and industry program at MERICS think tank in Berlin.<\/p>\n

Gunter said to expect \u201csome signaling\u201d in the coming plan around boosting consumption and addressing \u201cinvolution\u201d \u2013 or cutthroat domestic competition linked to overcapacity. But signs of a deeper shift, if it comes, would include meaningful efforts in the coming months and years to expand the social safety net and tackle issues around subsidies and over-investment, among others, he said.<\/p>\n

Potential personnel moves<\/p>\n

All eyes will also be on any personnel changes that could take place this week, including potential appointments to the powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees China\u2019s 2 million-strong armed forces.<\/p>\n

The CMC has been rocked by Xi\u2019s anti-corruption purge, with three of the body\u2019s six uniformed members ousted since 2023, including He Weidong, the No. 2 general.<\/p>\n

The announcement of his removal Friday confirmed months of speculation about He\u2019s fate after he vanished from public view last March<\/a>. He, who served as a CMC vice chairman, was also a member of the 24-member Politburo, the second-highest echelon of Communist Party leadership.<\/p>\n

\"He<\/p>\n

He Weidong, then vice-chair of the China’s Central Military Commission attends the opening session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing on March 5, 2025. – Ng Han Guan\/AP<\/p>\n

His ousting from the party was announced alongside that of fellow CMC member Miao Hua, who was removed from his military position in June, as well as seven other officers. All \u201cwere suspected of severe duty-related crimes involving exceptionally large amounts of money,\u201d according to state media.<\/p>\n

The shake-up leaves an unusual number of spots open on the party\u2019s Central Committee, which began its term in 2022 with 205 members and 171 non-voting alternates. About a dozen seats are expected to be filled by alternate members at this plenum.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear whether Xi will choose to refill the ranks of the CMC, which he chairs \u2013 or whether he will prefer to keep his close hold on the smaller group.<\/p>\n

The existing vacancies on the Central Committee and the potential for other disciplinary moves this week could bring \u201cthe biggest personnel shake-up\u201d at a plenum since at least 2017, according to Neil Thomas, a fellow on Chinese politics at the Asia Society Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecord purges strengthen, not weaken, Xi\u2019s grip over the party and the (People\u2019s Liberation Army). Every Central Committee member knows their future hinges on staying in Xi\u2019s good graces,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Nectar Gan and John Liu contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese leader Xi Jinping is convening a key political meeting this week where he will push forward his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,550,46175,144,131430,19542,3,21,19,22,20,25,14012,24,6132],"class_list":["post-237707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-beijing","tag-central-committee","tag-china","tag-chinese-leader","tag-communist-party","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-president-donald-trump","tag-usa","tag-xi-jinping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}