Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive in spotlight before top leaders' meeting, over 1 million investigated last year

President Xi Jinping's anti-corruption drive is back in the spotlight as China's Communist Party prepares for an important meeting of its top leaders. The 'fifth plenum' starts on Monday and is set to focus on 'major issues on advancing the party's full and rigorous self-governance', according to Chinese state media.

When Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he pledged to stamp out corruption all through the ranks of the Communist Party. More than a decade later, the pace of investigations has not slowed. Last year, China's disciplinary authorities opened investigations into more than 1 million people, including more than 100 officials at or above ministerial or provincial level.

Some analysts have questioned whether investigations that nearly always result in a conviction show that targets are truly guilty of corruption, or are just political rivals to those in charge. Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King's College London, said that in Xi's worldview, which is obsessed with discipline and loyalty, there may not be much difference between the two. 'If you're corrupt, you're not politically loyal. If you're politically loyal, you're not corrupt,' Brown said.

Brown added that in the CCP system, 'corruption is not just material things', but also 'spiritual corruption', which includes political disloyalty.

Neil Thomas, a senior fellow at the Asia Society thinktank, said: 'Xi has made the party less corrupt and strengthened his control, but he knows that tougher punishment cannot fully resolve the problem of officials putting their own interests ahead of the party's.' Thomas said Xi's answer is to keep tightening discipline, making anti-corruption a permanent method of governing.

The plenum is the fifth of seven gatherings that normally happen in every five-year cycle between party congresses. The plenums bring together more than 300 members of the CCP's Central Committee, the most senior officials in the party hierarchy.

The upcoming meeting is particularly significant because it is likely to be the last substantive meeting before next year's 21st Party Congress, where a new Central Committee will be chosen, and where Xi is expected to be anointed for a fourth term as head of the CCP.

The current focus on party governance comes amid a host of high-profile investigations against senior party and military leaders. In January, Zhang Youxia, China's top general and a man second only to Xi in the military hierarchy, was placed under investigation. A host of other purges means the Central Military Commission, which normally has seven members, has been reduced to just two: Xi and Zhang Shengmin, the commission's head of discipline.

Other recent removals include Ma Xingrui, the former party secretary for Xinjiang, and Huang Qifan, the former mayor of Chongqing.