China’s Communist Party elite to meet in October after a year’s delay
- Central Committee was expected to meet last autumn but gathering was put off amid trade war and Hong Kong unrest
- Postponement suggests lack of consensus on big issues, observers say
A long-awaited gathering of China’s ruling elite will finally take place in October, state media reported on Friday, after almost a year of delay amid a prolonged trade war with the United States and unprecedented civil unrest in Hong Kong.
The 202 top members of the ruling Communist Party – its Central Committee – and 172 alternate members, who can attend the meeting but have no voting rights, would gather behind closed doors in October, state news agency Xinhua reported, citing a decision by the Politburo, the body’s 25-member inner circle.
But the report did not specify a date for the meeting, or whether it would closely follow the National Day celebration on October 1.
The meeting will be the Central Committee’s fourth plenary session since the start of President Xi Jinping’s second term in late 2017. According to Communist Party convention, the committee, which includes senior officials, top military brass and executives from state firms, should have met last autumn to chart the course for the country’s economy and reforms.
Chen Daoyin, an independent political analyst, said the top party leaders considered the issue in depth before deciding to hold the gathering in October.
“The party might want to take advantage of the momentum from the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic on October 1,” Chen said. “The nationalist and patriotic sentiment of the people will be at the peak after that.”
