Writing after the April 2025 Central Conference on Work Relating to the Periphery, Li Kaisheng of the Shanghai Academy of International Studies credits President Xi Jinping’s leadership with elevating periphery diplomacy and bringing China’s relations with its periphery to their “best period in modern times.” Li underscores the periphery’s importance to China’s development, security, and diplomacy, linking the stability of China’s relations with its periphery to Chinese-style modernization and resistance to U.S. containment. He identifies Xi’s principle of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness as the foundation of periphery diplomacy, expanded through five new dimensions, and portrays head-of-state diplomacy as essential to fostering trust, managing disputes, and advancing flagship projects.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a central conference on work relating to the periphery in April 2025, highlighting periphery diplomacy as central to China’s development, security, foreign relations, and the “community of common destiny.” Chinese president Xi Jinping reaffirmed the 2013 guidelines of amity, sincerity, mutual benefit, and inclusiveness, stressing that ties with China’s periphery are now at their strongest in modern times but must adapt to shifting dynamics. Priorities include consolidating political trust, deepening economic and supply chain integration, strengthening security cooperation, and expanding exchanges, guided by stronger Party leadership and institutional reform.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which issues the senior leadership considers to be important. On November 28, 2025, Xi Jinping presided over the 23rd collective study session of the 20th Central Committee. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need to improve long-term mechanisms for cyberspace governance.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which issues the senior leadership considers to be important. On September 29, 2025, Xi Jinping presided over the 22nd collective study session of the 20th Central Committee. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need to systematically promote the Sinicization of religions in China and actively guide religions to adapt to a socialist society.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which issues the senior leadership considers to be important. The 21st collective study session of the 20th Central Committee Politburo was held on June 30, 2025, and was presided over by Xi Jinping. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need to continue the self-revolution of the Party by further regulating the exercise of power and enforcing strict discipline.

This special action plan issued by the Chinese Communist Party and the State Council outlines 30 actions to boost domestic consumption. These proposals aim to spur and improve the quality of consumption capacity, service consumption, and more to enhance the contributions of domestic consumption to China’s overall economy. The plan prioritizes increasing consumer spending power through pay adjustments and direct employment support while also addressing constraints on consumption. It also calls for leveraging fiscal policy support to supplement public services and expand disposable income, increasing consumption efficiency, and promoting new industries, consumption models and income channels.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which issues the senior leadership considers to be important. The 20th collective study session of the 20th Central Committee Politburo was held on April 25, 2025, and was presided over by Xi Jinping. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need for the party to promote innovation in the field of artificial intelligence, while also enhancing self-reliance and striving to set global standards.

The CCP Politburo holds “collective study sessions” on a semi-regular basis, in which an outside academic or government expert leads a discussion on a selected topic. Such sessions can signal which issues the senior leadership considers to be important. The 19th collective study session of the 20th Central Committee Politburo was held on February 28, 2025 and was presided over by Xi Jinping. Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the need to shift China’s public safety governance model from “reactive response” to “proactive prevention,” which entails expanding community-based security forces, and resolving various conflicts at the local level.

Days after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs announcement, Guan Tao, the global chief economist at BOCI China, assesses the impacts of the intensifying U.S.-China trade war. He compares this round of tariffs with the earlier tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term, concluding that their impacts on China this year may be similar to those of 2019. However, Guan views the external environment as increasingly suppressive and unpredictable, arguing that it will force China to “focus on doing its own things well” and spur domestic reforms spanning its development pattern, trade model, and macroeconomic policy priorities. Guan expects U.S.-China economic and trade relations to worsen but is confident these domestic adjustments will enable China to weather the “tariff storm.”

Three Chinese state-affiliated researchers Jiang Zhao, Dong Chao, and Fu Jiang assess the impact of Trump 2.0 on the global economy and U.S.-China trade relations. They foresee Trump’s policies as harmful to multilateral economic cooperation, but they believe the impact on China will be limited. They also propose a slate of countermeasures for Beijing, which include further diversifying export markets and trade cooperation with emerging economies, optimizing China’s ability to attract foreign investment, accelerating RMB internationalization, and “telling China’s economic development story well” to influence global public opinion.