5th plenary session of CPC Central Committee opens in Beijing

President Xi Jinping opened the four-day plenum of the Central Committee of China's Communist Party in Beijing that is set to focus on major issues on advancing full and rigorous party self-governance. A meeting communique is expected to be issued after the session comes to a close, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.

The Central Committee, the largest of the party's top decision-making bodies, has kicked off the session in the closed-door meeting from Monday to Thursday, which is the fifth plenum since the current cohort was formed four years ago.

A significant number of police and traffic officers are deployed along the perimetre of Jingxi Hotel in Beijing's Haidian District while roadblocks have been set up at several intersections. Private vehicles are banned from entering the area.

State media Xinhua reported Xi briefed the Central Committee on a draft document that addressed the challenges the party faced, including growing governing capacity, guarding against complacency and tackling corruption.

A bylined article published by China's flagship state newspaper People's Daily notes this year marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the CPC and the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan.

The commentary says enforcing absolute internal discipline is of paramount importance to consolidating the party's governing authority and delivering on its political mandate.

It says that as the CPC significantly enhanced its leadership, grassroots organising and societal influence alongside its global leverage, a comprehensive grasp of its party-building logic in the new era becomes essential.