General Zhang Shengmin was elevated to the Politburo on Thursday, putting the military’s senior discipline official into the Communist Party’s top governing body.
Zhang is vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and deputy secretary of its Commission for Discipline Inspection, a post overseeing internal military discipline. He is also the only remaining general on the Central Military Commission besides Xi Jinping.
The elevation gives the Politburo its sole representative from the People’s Liberation Army. Before Zhang joined, the body had no PLA representative.
The decision came at a four-day closed-door meeting of senior Communist Party leaders. Party members reviewed and confirmed earlier purges of senior party members and military officials, then adopted a resolution on strengthening self-governance, discipline and anti-corruption within the party.
Xi, China’s president and Communist Party leader, has made anti-corruption a central part of his leadership since coming to power in 2012. He had earlier purged two of China’s top generals.
The meeting recorded attendance of 74 percent, the lowest for a plenum since the times of former leader Mao Zedong. The reasons for the attendance level were not provided.
Zhang’s promotion comes about a year before Xi is widely expected to secure his fourth five-year term as the party’s leader. His new place on the Politburo brings the remaining military general on the Central Military Commission into the party body that directs China’s political leadership.
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