context: Each Central Committee traditionally holds one plenum on Party building, and the 20th Central Committee’s comes a year before the 21st Party Congress in 2027 and during this year’s round of local leadership reshuffles. More than a decade of anti-corruption campaigns has left many officials reluctant to take risks, a problem Beijing has repeatedly acknowledged as local economies struggle. A 2026 campaign on the 'correct view of political performance' targeted officials who chase vanity projects or refuse to honour predecessors’ commitments, including debts owed to firms. The plenum’s decision tries to tighten control while also encouraging officials to act.
The 20th Party Central Committee Fifth Plenum, 26–29 Oct 2026, adopted a decision on major issues concerning persistently advancing full and rigorous Party self-governance and passed a resolution on convening the 21st Party Congress, senior officials told a Party Central Committee press conference on 30 October.
Xi Jinping led the drafting group, says Tang Fangyu 唐方裕 Central Policy Research Office director. The draft received 1,173 comments, 208 of which were adopted. The decision has three parts
- a general section explaining the importance and urgency of persistent Party self-governance
- seven strategic tasks: strengthening members’ Party spirit, enforcing democratic centralism, building a high-calibre cadre force, tightening the organisational system, improving conduct and discipline, fighting corruption, and governing the Party through rules
- measures to improve the Party and state supervision system and enforce political responsibility for Party governance
The plenum responds to growing challenges of long-term rule, Tang says. The longer the Party governs and the more complex conditions become, the stronger its sense of crisis must be.
Discipline will be tightened at the top of local power structures, says Hu Heping 胡和平 Central Propaganda Department executive deputy head
- leading groups must follow decision-making rules, with supervision of major decisions, key appointments, major projects and large spending
- oversight of 'number one' leaders will be strengthened, including supervision by peers at the same level
- lower-level discipline commissions must report at least every six months to higher ones on how Party committee members, especially 'number ones', exercise power, says Xie Chuntao 谢春涛 Central Party School executive vice president
The decision also tries to address officials’ inaction, says Huang Jianfa 黄建发 Central Organisation Department executive deputy head
- those who avoid difficulties, are idle or are lax in their conduct will not be promoted
- political performance assessments will be revised to promote high-quality development, with a dynamic list of common distortions in how officials pursue performance
- the problem of new officials refusing to honour predecessors’ commitments will be tackled
- false accusations against officials will be investigated and wrongly accused officials cleared, so that those who take responsibility are protected
This year’s campaign on political performance has already led to rectification of over 90,000 high-standard farmland projects and near-universal online monitoring of school canteens, Huang says. The decision also calls for wider Party coverage of new economic and social organisations and new employment groups, such as gig workers.
The anti-corruption campaign will continue at high intensity, says Zhang Fuhai 张福海 Central Commission for Discipline Inspection deputy secretary and National Supervisory Commission deputy director
- since 2012, discipline and supervision bodies have opened 8.105 million cases and punished 7.922 million people, including 963 centrally managed cadres
- priorities include sectors where power, funds and resources are concentrated, cases where political and economic problems intertwine, collusion between officials and business, capital infiltrating politics, and new and hidden forms of corruption
The decision also targets the Party’s 'unwritten rules', which undermine formal regulations, Xie says. It calls for more public disclosure of Party regulations and stronger enforcement, so that there are no exceptions in applying the rules.