According to the usual practice, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo meeting, which should have been held at the end of May 2026, was unusually not publicly reported by official media. Analysis suggests that the Politburo meeting was held on May 29, 2026, to discuss senior personnel changes, but the details were kept confidential afterward. On May 29, 2026, the CCP Politburo Standing Committee member Zhao Leji and Politburo members Wang Yi and Chen Wenqing were reportedly overseas, raising suspicions of their absence from the Politburo meeting.
Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper reported on June 8, 2026, stating that the Central Politburo is the highest decision-making body of the CCP. It conventionally holds a monthly meeting towards the end of the month to discuss and deploy major issues. In the first four months of 2026, the Politburo met at the end of each month.
However, throughout May, there was no official announcement of a Politburo meeting in Beijing. Yet, several significant personnel reshufflings were officially announced. On May 30, Guan Zhixiu, Minister of the CCP’s Ministry of Natural Resources, was parachuted to Hubei to assume the position of Provincial Party Secretary, succeeding Wang Zhonglin and becoming the youngest Provincial Party Secretary.
On the afternoon of May 29, the CCP Central Organization Department announced two central decisions: Ding Xiangqun (female), former Chairman of the China People’s Insurance Group, was appointed as the Party Secretary of the National Financial Supervision and Administration Committee, replacing Li Yunze, who was demoted in April for alleged disciplinary violations. Zhang Yuzhuo, Director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, was appointed as Party Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, relieving Li Xiaohong of her position as Party Secretary of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Based on this information, it is estimated that the CCP Central Politburo convened a meeting on May 29 to discuss high-level personnel matters, but kept it secret because the meeting focused solely on personnel changes. It could have been a meeting of the 7-member Politburo Standing Committee on that day, where decisions on senior personnel moves were made. Such meetings of the Politburo Standing Committee are generally not publicly announced.
The article also mentioned that on June 5, 2026, the Central Party School of the CCP held the graduation ceremony for the second batch of classes in the 2026 Spring Semester. The principal who handed out the graduation certificates was not Chen Xi, but rather Cai Qi, a member of the CCP Central Politburo Standing Committee and the newly-appointed Principal of the Central Party School. It is estimated that Cai Qi’s appointment as the Principal was also decided during the May 29 meeting.
According to Epoch Times’ investigation, on May 29, 2026, Politburo Standing Committee member Zhao Leji and Politburo members Wang Yi and Chen Wenqing were all reported to be overseas. If indeed a Politburo meeting was held on May 29, it would mean that at least these three Standing Committee members and members were absent from the meeting.
As reported by Xinhua News Agency, Li Keqiang, the CCP Central Politburo Standing Committee member and Premier of the State Council, conducted inspections in Zhoushan and Ningbo in Zhejiang Province from May 25 to 27, 2026.
Zhao Leji, CCP Politburo Standing Committee member and Chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, visited Russia from May 27 to 30, 2026, and attended the 11th meeting of the China-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee.
Wang Yi, CCP Politburo member and Minister of Foreign Affairs, attended the United Nations conference in New York from May 26 to 28, 2026, and visited Canada from May 28 to 30.
Chen Wenqing, CCP Politburo member and Secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, visited Russia to attend the 14th International Conference of Senior Representatives on Security Affairs from May 27 to June 1, 2026, and also visited Russia and Kazakhstan.
In addition, Xi Jinping, the leader of the CCP, remained out of public view starting from May 26, 2026, until reappearing on June 5 to meet with the leader of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. During this period, he was unusually absent for ten days.
It is noteworthy that from May 21 to June 3, 2025, Xi Jinping was also conspicuously absent for two weeks until he appeared on June 4 to meet with the President of Belarus. During that time, there were frequent adjustments to provincial-level officials, and official media did not report on the May Politburo meeting, as is usually done.