China’s Xi looks to party congress to cement authority
In a ritual of summer, China’s leaders have been holding an unofficial retreat at a beach resort ahead of a key fall Communist Party congress at which President Xi Jinping will launch his second five-year term as party chief and move to cement his status as China’s most powerful leader in decades. The absence of top leaders from state media reports is a general indication that the secretive Beidaihe retreat is underway. In a hint that leaders have gathered at the resort’s quiet beaches and closely guarded guest houses, the official Xinhua News Agency last week carried an account of a meeting at the resort between party propaganda boss Liu Yunshan and a group of vacationing technical experts.
