Taiwan Warns Xi Jinping Is Consolidating Power Through Purges Ahead of 2027 Party Congress

Taipei’s message to Beijing: the divide across the Strait is about the political system, not culture or ethnicity

November 1, 2026

Taiwan says Xi Jinping is purging his way to a fourth term, with 33 officials expelled and record absences at the party’s fifth plenum

Deputy Minister Shen Yu-chung says the CCP’s “self-revolution” is a rejection of public, media and civil society oversight

Taiwan’s government says the contrast across the Strait has never been clearer. In Beijing, a party purging its own ranks and shutting out outside scrutiny. In Taipei, mayoral candidates debating each other in public.

Shen Yu-chung, Deputy Minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), made the case at a forum organised by the Secure Taiwan Associate Corporation, according to the Taipei Times. The event examined where China’s domestic politics may be heading after the Chinese Communist Party’s fifth plenum and what that means for Taiwan.

Shen argued that the political system is the fundamental issue in cross-strait relations. Shared culture, language or ethnicity, he said, have little to do with it.

The plenum, which concluded last week, centred on “unswerving promotion of the full and rigorous party self-governance.” Shen said the campaign reflects Xi Jinping’s drive to strengthen party leadership and consolidate his authority before next year’s 21st CCP National Congress. He presented four findings from the MAC’s assessment:

Xi’s position is being cemented. The establishment of “Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building” as a guiding principle reinforces his dominance. Shen pointed to the confirmed expulsion of 33 officials, including former senior military leaders Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, on charges of disloyalty, duplicity and failure to implement central policy. The message to the ranks, he said, is that deviating from Xi’s directives risks a purge.
The goal is permanent one-party rule. Strict governance is aimed chiefly at preserving the CCP’s long-term hold on power. Discipline is increasingly about obedience to the party, while constitutional development and the protection of people’s rights take a back seat.
Outside oversight is being rejected. The party’s “self-revolution” shuts out the public, the media and civil society. Shen cited unverified reports that students at more than 10 Chinese universities signed a petition against indefinite presidential terms. He warned Xi could answer academic activity and social movements with new legal measures and tighter surveillance.
The path to a fourth term is clearing. Large-scale purges across the party, government and military have removed potential obstacles to Xi securing a fourth term at next year’s congress. Absences among Central Committee members and alternates reached their highest level since the Mao Zedong era.

Shen then turned to Taiwan. The mayoral debates in Taipei and Kaohsiung, he said, are exactly the kind of open political contest that could not exist under the CCP.

He urged Taiwanese citizens to recognise these institutional differences and unite to defend freedom, democracy and national sovereignty. The government, he added, will keep monitoring developments inside the CCP while countering Chinese election interference, cognitive warfare, transnational repression and efforts to divide Taiwanese society.

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