China's Communist Party to hold key meeting in October

(Reuters) China’s ruling Communist Party will hold a key leadership meeting in October to discuss ways to improve governance and perfect the country’s socialist system, state media said on Friday, more than a year after the last was held.

State news agency Xinhua did not specify an exact date or agenda for what is formally called a plenum, a closed-door meeting of the party’s Central Committee, which is roughly 370-strong and the largest of its elite bodies that rule China.

It will be the fourth plenary session since a party congress ended in October 2017, ushering in President Xi Jinping’s second term in office.

The last plenum, in February 2018, discussed personnel decisions and a reform plan for state institutions to give the party greater control.

October’s meeting comes as the economy is still slowing, amid a bitter trade war with the United States.

Source: Reuters; Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez