Why Party Plenums Matter So Much to Xi

Foreign Policy · James Palmer · 2026-10-27 21:28 UTC

The Chinese leader is deeply reliant on formal mechanisms of power.

The Chinese leader is deeply reliant on formal mechanisms of power.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s China Brief.

The highlights this week: The Chinese Communist Party begins its fifth plenum, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits Dandong, and China’s first entirely AI-generated animated feature flops at the box office.

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