China Gears Up for Third Plenum Amid Economic Challenges and Global Tensions

China’s Communist Party leaders will gather for a key meeting known as the third plenum on July 15-18, state media reported Thursday, setting the stage for potentially pivotal economic discussions.

The gathering will bring together about 200 members of the Communist Party Central Committee in Beijing. The dates were confirmed at a meeting of the Politburo, the party’s top decision-making body.

The plenum comes as China grapples with a relentless property crisis and intense friction with the West over trade and tariffs. President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, is pushing hard to achieve technological self-sufficiency amid Beijing’s rivalry with the U.S.

Thursday’s announcement ends months of speculation over when the meeting — one of seven such plenary sessions typically held during the five-year term of the party’s Central Committee — would be held. The third plenum, which usually focuses on long-term economic policy, had been expected last autumn according to China’s political calendar.

Past third plenums have had a major impact on China’s economic trajectory. It was at this meeting in 1978 that Deng Xiaoping introduced the “reform and opening up” policy that catalyzed the country’s rapid economic rise. But most economists are not expecting major shifts in economic policy in the upcoming session.

The third plenum usually issues a communique after it ends. The Politburo meeting on Thursday decided to submit a draft of the document, dubbed the “decision on further comprehensively deepening reform and promoting Chinese-style modernization,” to the third plenum.

The draft has “deeply analyzed the new situation and new problems” in the way of China’s objectives, according to state media.

Major Chinese stock indexes ended the day lower on Thursday.