The 20th Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 20th Central Committee was finally convened after being delayed for nearly half a year. However, many abnormal phenomena have emerged during and around the meeting. Epoch Times journalists have compiled the following observations.
The 20th Central Committee of the CCP held its third plenary session from July 15 to 18 in Beijing. Official reports stated that there were 199 Central Committee members and 165 alternate Central Committee members in attendance.
It was noted by Epoch Times journalists that the original numbers of Central Committee members and alternate members were 205 and 171, respectively. This indicates that 6 Central Committee members and 6 alternate members did not attend the session.
Among the 12 absentees, 6 have been confirmed to have run into troubles. This group includes 4 Central Committee members: former Foreign Minister Qin Gang, former Defense Minister Li Shangfu, former Rocket Force Commander Li Yuchao, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs Tang Renjian; as well as 2 alternate Central Committee members: former Rocket Force Chief of Staff Sun Jinming and former Yunnan Provincial Committee standing committee member and deputy governor Li Shisong.
The CCP has only disclosed the handling of 4 out of these 6 individuals. Tang Renjian, who was reported to have fallen from grace on May 18, and Li Shisong, who was reported on June 25, will not be promptly disclosed according to the CCP’s processing procedure.
The names and reasons for absence of the remaining 6 individuals have not been made public yet.
According to the official conference communiqué, the session reviewed and passed the CCP Central Military Commission’s investigation report on the “serious disciplinary violations and breaches of law” by former State Councilor and Defense Minister Li Shangfu, former Rocket Force Commander Li Yuchao, and former Rocket Force Chief of Staff Sun Jinming, affirming the disciplinary measures previously taken by the CCP’s Politburo against these three individuals.
The circumstances of Li Shangfu and Li Yuchao had been previously disclosed by the authorities, whereas this is the first time that Sun Jinming’s situation has been revealed. Sun Jinming, a lieutenant general, had served as the head of a missile brigade in the Rocket Force and later as the commander of the Rocket Force’s 69th Base. In 2022, he took over as the Rocket Force’s Chief of Staff from Li Yuchao and became an alternate member of the 20th Central Committee the same year.
Since assuming power, CCP leader Xi Jinping has launched large-scale political cleansing movements. The Rocket Force became a key target of last year’s cleansing, with all three successive commanders being ousted, including Li Yuchao in July last year. Former Defense Minister Li Shangfu was placed under investigation by the Military Commission’s Discipline Inspection Committee in August last year, amid widespread rumors of his involvement in Rocket Force corruption scandals.
The communiqué from the CCP’s plenary session also stated that they accepted Qin Gang’s “resignation request,” relieving him of his duties as a Central Committee member.
Qin Gang’s treatment differs notably from the aforementioned three individuals, as the CCP retained his title as “comrade,” did not expel him from the party, and the official language indicates that Qin Gang’s resignation was “accepted” rather than being dismissed.
Qin Gang was a high-ranking official personally promoted by Xi Jinping. He was appointed as the Foreign Minister in late December 2022, having served as China’s Ambassador to the United States, and was later elevated to State Councilor within three months, becoming one of the youngest “party and state leaders” at that time. However, Qin Gang unexpectedly fell from grace in July last year and was relieved of his State Councilor duties in October. In February this year, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee announced that Qin Gang had “resigned” from his position as a National People’s Congress representative.
However, the CCP has not officially disclosed the specifics of Qin Gang’s alleged wrongdoings.
The plenary session also appointed three alternate Central Committee members to become Central Committee members, namely: Ding Xiangqun, member of the Anhui Provincial Committee and Minister of the Organizational Department; Yu Lijun, member of the Sichuan Provincial Committee and Minister of the Organizational Department; Yu Jihong, President of Beijing Normal University.
When a Central Committee member’s position becomes vacant, it is generally filled by the alternate committee members who received the highest votes.
It is worth noting that the three appointed individuals were ranked first, third, and fourth on the alternate Central Committee member list, while the second-ranked Ding Xingnong was skipped.
Major General Ding Xingnong, aged 61, served as the director of the Political Department of the CMC General Armament Department before the military reforms of the CCP. After the reforms, he held positions in the Strategic Support Force’s political work department, which was disbanded three months ago. Ding Xingnong getting bypassed may be related to the recent intense purge of the military’s high-ranking officials, leading to speculation.
Additionally, the newly appointed Defense Minister of the CCP, Dong Jun, at the end of last year was not elected as a member of the CCP Central Military Commission.
During the first two days of the plenary session, Xi Jinping did not appear in person at the meeting. Multiple sources on the X platform of social media circulated rumors that Xi Jinping might have had a sudden stroke or brain infarction at the meeting. Despite skepticism raised by some, the rumor spread widely, with details even emerging.
On the last day of the plenary session, the CCP’s central television station released footage of Xi Jinping participating in the session, including him having discussions with officials at the Jingxi Guesthouse and listening to reports at the Great Hall of the People. However, CCTV did not specify the timing of this footage, leading the rumors about Xi Jinping’s stroke to persist and intensify, sparking discussions among the Chinese public.
After the Secretary-General of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nguyen Phu Trong, passed away on the afternoon of July 18, on the night of July 20, CCTV broadcast the news of Xi Jinping’s visit to the Vietnamese Embassy in China to offer condolences. The video showed him shaking hands with embassy staff upon entering the embassy, ascending to the second-floor funeral hall without using the handrail, expressing condolences, and conversing with Vietnamese Ambassador to China, Pham Thanh Mai, in a 4-minute and 20-second-long video, clearly aimed at dispelling rumors.
It has been suggested by political analyst Chen Pokong that this does not rule out the possibility of Xi Jinping having previously suffered a stroke. He believes that these rumors are not entirely baseless, and even if Xi Jinping appears in public, it does not prove that he has not experienced a stroke.
The CCP’s official news agency, Xinhua, published a lengthy article titled “Reformer Xi Jinping” on July 15. However, during the plenary session, this article was mysteriously taken offline. On July 17, Epoch Times journalists could find no trace of the article when searching on Baidu, except for reprints on Hong Kong and overseas websites found through Google.
The article praised Xi Jinping as another “exceptional reformer” after Deng Xiaoping, who had inherited and promoted Deng Xiaoping’s legacy, enabling China to “continue its economic miracle.” It also referred to Xi Jinping’s era as a “new era of reform” and claimed that it was now a critical period for accelerating a new round of reforms.
Chen Pokong mentioned in his media program that this article placed Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping on an equal footing, whereas Xi Jinping wanted to establish a “new era” distinct from Deng Xiaoping’s legacy. Therefore, Xinhua’s portrayal may have displeased Xi Jinping.
He noted that another possibility is that the article’s excessive praise of Xi Jinping may have led to many errors. For instance, it claimed that in 1978, Xi Jinping was tasked by his father Xi Zhongxun to investigate the household responsibility system in Chuzhou, Anhui. This statement was deemed erroneous since the term “household responsibility system” did not appear until 1980, meaning Xi Jinping could not have researched it in 1978. Overblown praise might also be one of the reasons why the article was taken offline.