China’s third plenum: tight security surrounds crucial meeting amid big policy questions

Heavy police presence in China’s capital; Beijing bans low-altitude aircraft and installs security personnel at subway stations and bridges

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Traffic police officers monitor a road leading towards the Jingxi Hotel where the Communist Party’s Central Committee is holding its third plenum in Beijing, China, on Monday, July 15, 2024. Photo: AP

Published: 4:00pm, 15 Jul 2024Updated: 5:24pm, 15 Jul 2024

China’s ruling Communist Party has started its third plenum with tightened security measures in Beijing as it charts China’s economic and social development direction for the next decade.

The main focus of the four-day meeting of more than 370 full and alternate members of the party’s Central Committee is expected to decide how to reach the country’s interim industrial and technological goals by 2035, and ways to cope with the economic challenges facing the country.

Confirming the opening of the plenum in Beijing, state news agency Xinhua said on Monday morning that President Xi Jinping, who is the General Secretary of the party, delivered the Politburo’s work report to the plenary session and presented a draft document on the Central Committee’s decision on “further comprehensively deepening reform and advancing Chinese modernisation”.

The one-paragraph Xinhua report on Monday morning did not offer any further details of the meeting.

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China’s third plenum: what to expect from the much-delayed policy meeting

The event – formally known as the third plenum of the 20th Central Committee – is expected to close on Thursday with a brief communique summarising key decisions.