General Zhang Joins Top Party Body

China's Communist Party leadership promoted a senior military general to its top governing body on Thursday.

The party elected Gen. Zhang Shengmin to the Politburo. He currently serves as vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. The commission oversees the country's armed forces.

Zhang is the only remaining general on that commission. President Xi Jinping previously removed two other top generals from their posts. Those removals left Zhang as the sole military representative alongside Xi.

Before this promotion, the Politburo had no members from the People's Liberation Army. Zhang also serves as deputy secretary of the CMC Commission for Discipline Inspection. That role involves overseeing internal discipline within the military.

The leaders adopted a resolution to strengthen party self-governance and anti-corruption efforts. The party stated that its tasks are increasingly arduous. These tasks include leading the people to protect national sovereignty and development interests.

The resolution calls for rooting out corruption and maintaining ideological purity. According to Xinhua News Agency, the party must enhance its long-term governance capacity. It also aims to maintain close ties with the public.

Xi has pursued an anti-corruption campaign since taking power in 2012. Analysts note that the current focus includes officials who underperform. The recent plenum meeting confirmed personnel changes from earlier purges of top members and military figures.

Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at Asia Policy, analyzed the meeting's attendance. He calculated a 74 percent attendance rate. That figure is the lowest recorded since the era of former leader Mao Zedong, who frequently conducted political purges.

The four-day closed-door meeting concluded with resolutions that will guide the party for the coming years. The session took place about a year before Xi is expected to seek a fourth five-year term as party leader.