Xi Jinping Announces Fourth Plenum of the CPC Central Committee for Next Week

Oct. 24, 2019 (EIRNS)—China’s President Xi Jinping announced today, following a meeting of the Politburo, that the Central Committee will hold its Fourth Plenum of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) next week, Oct. 28-31. Xinhua reported that the 300 full and alternate members of the party’s top leadership, meeting in closed sessions, will discuss the plan to achieve the “modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance ... by 2035 and realized in full as the People’s Republic of China celebrates its centenary” in 2049.

This will be the first meeting in 20 months—the longest period between Plenums in recent decades, which may be because of the problems from the trade war and the Hong Kong color revolution chaos.

The reported main agenda is to “discuss important issues concerning how to uphold and improve the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and how to make progress in modernizing the country’s governance system and capacity.”

The Plenum is also expected to replace two Politburo members: Liu Shiyu, demoted for corruption earlier this month; and Zheng Xiaosong, the central government’s former top official in Macao who fell to his death last year. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post today said that it is expected that Ma Zhengwu, chairman of state-owned investment conglomerate Chengtong Group, and top naval engineer Rear Adm. Ma Weiming, described in press reports as the “father of China’s electromagnetic aircraft launch system,” will be appointed to replace the two.