Despite the twists and turns of wrestling with President Donald Trump, the Chinese Communist party has entered its summer recess and its senior leaders have gathered at the Beidaihe beach resort, 300km from Beijing, for the annual summer meeting to determine its domestic priorities for the rest of 2019 and in the lead up to the party’s centenary in 2021.
While the Beidaihe meeting is a secretive affair, it is no less important than other conclaves of the party’s senior leadership.
Judging by the last public gathering of the politburo on July 30, “stabilising employment, boosting household consumption and mitigating major risks” are likely to dominate the Beidaihe meeting agenda, and the much discussed trade war and Sino-US decoupling has become a secondary concern. Why have the three intertwined domestic policies identified been prioritised?