Beijing has signalled the start of the summer break for China’s political elite with the announcement of retreats at the seaside resort of Beidaihe.
State news agency Xinhua reported on Monday that Cai Qi, the man often referred to as President Xi Jinping’s “chief of staff”, “extended sincere greetings” to various academics and scientists invited to the resort about 300km (186 miles) east of Beijing.
The report did not name those invited but did say they included specialists working at the frontiers of basic research, strategic and cutting-edge technologies and core technologies in key fields, as well as academics in philosophy and the social sciences.
According to footage from state broadcaster CCTV, one of the guests was Chen Deliang, a global climate scientist who returned to China to take up a full-time position at Tsinghua University at the end of 2024.
Cai, who ranks fifth in the ruling Communist Party’s hierarchy, is a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and director of the party’s General Office.
The Xinhua report said that at the meeting he stressed the strategic importance of “talent” in party governance.
This year is the start of China’s 15th five-year plan and Cai called on the researchers to advance the scientific spirit, strive for breakthroughs in their fields, and make greater contributions to “securing decisive progress in basically realising socialist modernisation”.
It is not known how long leaders will stay at the resort but security measures have been heightened in preparation for the retreat.
Early last month, Qinhuangdao, the city in Hebei province that oversees Beidaihe, announced a temporary ban on drones and other low-altitude aircraft – including hot-air balloons and gliders – throughout July and August.
All unauthorised flights by low-flying, slow-moving aircraft are also banned.
Chinese leaders have long decamped to Beidaihe during the summer to set the political agenda, starting in the 1950s with leaders such as Mao Zedong.
Today, however, it is widely understood to function mainly as a summer holiday retreat rather than a venue for formal political meetings.
Last year, 60 experts were invited, including prominent scientists Yan Ning, a structural biologist and the founding president of the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation, and Pan Jianwei, a leading quantum physicist at the University of Science and Technology of China.
The public disclosure of the summer gathering comes on the heels of an announcement last week by the Politburo, China’s top decision-making body, that the party will hold its fifth plenum in October. More than 370 full and alternate members will take part.
According to Xinhua, the session will focus on “consistently exercising full and rigorous governance over the party”.
For Beijing, the expression usually means three things: fighting corruption, tightening party discipline and shoring up political loyalty. --- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
