Fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
The fourth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party took place in Beijing 20 to 23 October 2025. The main agenda of the meeting included the Politburo of the [Chinese Communist Party|Politburo] reporting to the Central Committee on its work and the study of proposals on formulating the fifteenth five-year plan. Personnel changes were also made.
Background
The CCP Central Committee's fourth plenary session has generally been used to launch China's fifteenth five-year plan. It was attended by approximately 200 voting members and 170 alternate members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.Meetings and speeches
On the morning of October 20, 2025, the fourth plenary session was held in Beijing. CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered a work report to the plenary session on behalf of the Politburo and explained to the plenary session the "Proposal of the CCP Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development ". Details were not released. It was anticipated then that some would not be announced for days, weeks, or months, the rubber stamp National People's Congress session of March 2026 being the formal occasion of its public promulgation.Conclusion and analysis
In the event, numerous personnel changes were confirmed in a 5,000-word communiqué issued at the conclusion of the plenum. Zhang Shengmin was added as a vice chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission, the second highest position in the military hierarchy, replacing He Weidong, who had been purged only the week before. Empty seats of the Central Committee of the CCP were filled by the alternate members Deng Xiuming, Deng Yiwu, Lu Hong, Ma Hancheng, Wang Jian, Wang Tingkai, Wang Xi, Wang Xinwei, Wang Yonghong, Wei Tao, and Yu Huiwen. Hence 11 members of that body were replaced in the aftermath of the anti-corruption campaign, the highest turnover since 2017.Notably, national defense capability was included for the first time in a Five Year Plan. Furthermore, some investigations had not heretofore been announced, and only 82% of Central Committee members were in attendance. Out of 205 members, 168 attended the meeting, the communique said, along with 147 out of 171 alternates, itself the lowest attendance since the Cultural Revolution. Institutionally, the seven-seat Central Military Commission now has only four serving members.