The announcement usually indicates that most of the closed-door negotiations on key positions are over, though there could be last-minute adjustments. The most important decisions are usually made ahead of the party congress, which largely serves as a formal occasion to legitimise and communicate those decisions to delegates.

It will be held at a similar time of year to the last party congress in 2017 and the one in 2007, both of which took place in October. The timing suggests that preparation for the event has gone smoothly despite the domestic and international challenges.

The Xinhua report did not say how long the more than 2,000 delegates from across the country will gather in Beijing but the past six congresses have spanned seven days.

This year’s congress will review the party’s achievements and “thoroughly study international and domestic trends”, according to the report.

It also said the event would “continuously” push for a series of President Xi Jinping’s signature policies, including “common prosperity”, a reference to narrowing China’s immense wealth gap.

Another policy in the spotlight will be “the building of a community with a shared future for humanity”, a term coined during Xi’s tenure to encompass China’s diplomatic ambitions and its efforts to boost international relations, particularly with developing countries.

Key party positions will be filled during the gathering, including the party’s leader, the line-up of top party bodies, as well as the Central Military Commission. Appointments to central government positions, including the premier, vice-premiers and ministers, will be finalised in March during the annual session of the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature.

The delegates will also approve a new list of members for the Central Committee, the party’s top leadership body made up of more than 300 political elites.

Immediately after the congress at the first plenary session of the 20th Central Committee, those committee members will meet to decide who gets a seat at the apex of Chinese politics – the 25-strong Politburo and its Standing Committee, which currently has seven members.

Xi is expected to begin a third term as the party’s leader at the end of the congress, which would make him the first to do so since the rule of Mao Zedong.

The gathering comes as China’s ties with the United States and its allies are at their lowest ebb in decades. Tensions across the Taiwan Strait are also at a high in the aftermath of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island in August.

Domestically, China’s economy has been dogged by constant Covid-19-related disruptions, a looming population crisis and soaring youth unemployment.

The congress will be the first since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which Beijing has sought to fend off with draconian measures.

It is not clear how the Covid-19 rules will affect the gathering but Beijing has sought to shorten duration of political events for this purpose since 2020.

Xi and others have been driving home the message to officials that the party congress is one of this year’s most important tasks, and the nation’s top law enforcement agencies, economic planners and provincial chiefs have all vowed to ensure political and social stability for the event.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said Xi – who has not left the country for more than two years – will travel to Bali for the G20 meeting. It is not known if Xi will attend the Apec summit in person.

International travel for most Chinese leaders has been kept to a minimum since 2020. All but one member of the 25-strong Politburo has remained strictly inside the country’s borders for more than two years, with Yang Jiechi, the party’s top diplomat, as the only exception.

Person-to-person exchanges with the outside world have also been limited, with China only allowing foreign students with valid permits back in last week, after a long wait of 2½ years.