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”.