Different agencies, including the nation’s legislature, military and local government departments, should ensure that the party’s external work directives were implemented, he said.

Xi’s order came as experts and policymakers are divided on how China should handle its trade conflict with the US, with some calling for tougher measures to restrict American investment while others say China should adjust its industrial policies.

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Other directives issued during the meeting included boosting ties with developing nations, taking the lead on reforming global governance, and taking the nation’s “core interests” as the bottom line in safeguarding China’s sovereignty.

Michael Kovrig, a senior adviser for North East Asia with the International Crisis Group, said the meeting sent the message that foreign affairs was of increasing importance to the party and it wanted to centralise decision- and policymaking on diplomacy.

“It is part of Xi’s ongoing drive to centralise power within the party and reaffirm the party’s primacy over the government and everything,” he said.

The meeting was held as China and the United States continue to spar over trade. Despite the two countries agreeing in May to put their tit-for-tat posturing on hold, tensions were reignited last week when Washington announced it would levy 25 per cent tariffs on US$34 billion worth of Chinese products from July 6. Beijing fired back with the threat of tariffs on an equivalent amount of American goods.

Officials are now scrambling for ways to avert a trade war between the two nations, with calls for Beijing to go beyond products and target American services and investment, including putting US companies under tighter scrutiny.

Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou, said decision-making had been hamstrung because so many stakeholders were involved in trade between the two countries.

Beijing’s controversial “Made in China 2025” was one example, with some calling for a cut to subsidies for state-owned enterprises and sectors covered by the policy – aimed at supporting hi-tech industries – that Washington and Europe say gives Chinese firms an unfair advantage.

“Centralised decision-making is needed for better coordination among different agencies responsible for handling trade with the US,” Pang said.

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“In the past, different departments and local governments involved in foreign affairs might not have coordinated efficiently enough in policy implementation because they tended to look after their own interests,” he said.

Deng added that the party had always been in charge of foreign policy, but the increased emphasis was a result of the “New Era” political climate under Xi.

“It is a natural extension of the broader political environment where the party’s leadership over everything and anything is underlined time and again,” he said.

The party’s influence on policymaking has grown under Xi, who has reversed past practice of leaving policy implementation to the state. The party has also been extending its control over all aspects of life in China, best summarised by a Mao Zedong slogan Xi revived at a key party meeting in October: “East, west, south, north and centre – the party leads everything”.

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But Deng added that he did not think the emphasis on the party’s authority would amount to differing opinions being silenced within the establishment.

“Although decision-making power rests with the party’s central leadership, other departments should put forward their opinions – because, frankly, allowing only one kind of voice to exist within the establishment would be a very terrifying thing,” he said.

Additional reporting by Nectar Gan