Setting a target for economic development over the next five years is expected to be high on the agenda at the upcoming annual meeting of CPC leaders in Hebei province.

Since the Mao Zedong era, it has been a tradition for leaders of the Communist Party of China to attend a closed-door meeting in the coastal town of Beidaihe in the summer.

Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute of Reform and Development, expected the Beidaihe meeting to make decisions related to the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) that "meet the demands of China's development, alleviate the short-term downward pressure and have a great impact in the middle and long term".

"At the moment, I believe a successful strategy is far more important than solving one or two concrete issues," Chi said.

He said such a strategy can set stable expectations for the middle term, giving people confidence to face short-term downward pressure.

The 13th Five-Year Plan will be the first five-year plan by the current Central Government, and the last one before fulfilling the target of building a well-off society in an all-around way before the 100th birthday of the CPC in 2021.

The report of the 18th CPC National Congress said in late 2012 that GDP and the per capita income of urban and rural residents in 2020 should be double that of 2010.

The Beidaihe meeting comes on the heels of a meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, which was held on July 30 and pledged to step up targeted policies to combat the downward pressure on the economy.

It was the second meeting of the Political Bureau in 10 days. The first, on July 20, focused on the 13th Five-Year Plan.

"The 13th Five-Year Plan is the deciding phase in the process of building a well-off society in an all-around way," said a statement issued after the meeting.

Regarding development in the coming five years, Chi highlighted the "great potential" in upgrading China's service sector. He estimated that China's consumption market will double by 2020, with a large part of that in the service sector.

"That will be great news for China and the whole world."

He added that China's urbanization will also give a strong boost to the economy.

Other topics at the Beidaihe meeting, according to analysts, might include the anti-corruption campaign, personnel arrangements, reform of State-owned enterprises and relations with major countries.

The draft of the 13th Five-Year Plan will be discussed by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee scheduled for October, and then wait for discussion and approval at the annual session of the National People's Congress in March 2016.

Historical Beidaihe

Beidaihe, a coastal town 300 kilometers northeast of Beijing with a population of 60,000, is possibly one of the most secret places in China's political news.

As the workplace of Chinese leaders and Central Government officials in summer, it is listed as one of the world's three major "summer capitals", along with Camp David in the U.S. and Russia's Sochi.

Beidaihe has been a famous summer resort since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Summers there are pleasant, compared with the sultry weather in the capital.

In 1953, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to move Party and government agencies to Beidaihe for work in the summer.

After that, many decisions with great impact on China were made there. The tradition was stopped in 1966, the start of the "cultural revolution" (1966-76), and resumed in 1984.

In the 1980s, late leader Deng Xiaoping met some foreign guests during his stay in the town, including a delegation from Japan's Komeito Party.

(China Daily August 5, 2015)