China expels a record number from Communist party amid Xi’s intensified purges of top officials
<p>The unprecedented number of empty seats at the fifth plenum – a symbol of expulsions – serve as a symbol for the scale of the purges under Xi Jinping</p><p>China expelled a record number of officials from the Chinese Communist party (CCP) as it concluded a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/26/xi-jinping-corruption-crackdown-china-fifth-p