Xi Jinping Is Growing More Elusive

Reports that he is in trouble are, nonetheless, overblown.

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Each August, the most powerful man in the world drops from view. Chinese President Xi Jinping will probably leave Beijing this week and join senior officials at the beach resort of Beidaihe, three hours east of the capital, for a summer retreat. Communist Party grandees have gathered in its villas since the days of Mao Zedong. Even so, extended absences can stir heady speculation outside China about the leader's grip on power.

The 2025 summer conclave will reflect Mr Xi's stunning success in remaking the party's top ranks: the old guard are dead, senile or sidelined and loyalists reign. China's paramount leader appears to have no serious rivals; he guides the world's second-biggest economy and its largest armed forces seemingly unchallenged.

For world leaders, access to him is imperative. In recent days he hosted the foreign ministers of India and Russia and held talks with Australia's Prime Minister. And America has just insisted that "the odds are high" of a meeting between Mr Xi and US President Donald Trump later in 2025.

China's elite politics remains a black box. If a leader were ever in trouble, outsiders might be the last to know. But analysts now whisper that Mr Xi's governing style may be changing in subtle ways. Having originally strengthened a system of commissions in order to dominate the bureaucracy, he is dialling back.

Certain commissions, which are a kind of committee run by Mr Xi, are convening less often. In others he is allowing trusted lieutenants to implement his agenda. And he is appearing in public less frequently.

Yet far from challenging the authority of China's party chief, these developments may only enhance it.