Chinese President Xi Jinping will face his biggest political test to muster support for his stepped up anti-graft campaign against top retired officials at a gathering of ruling Communist Party elite this week.
Analysts say the meeting of party elders for annual informal get-together at Beidaihe resort will test President Xi's authority to hold the party together as senior cadres and interest groups feel the heat from his sweeping anti-corruption campaign.
The meeting of party elders and the leadership at the seaside resort for the traditional low-key gathering comes after the president reportedly acknowledged that his two-year-old drive against graft faced challenges.
"The two armies of corruption and anti-corruption are in opposition and are at a stalemate," Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post quoted President Xi as saying.
The report did not elaborate, but analysts and insiders suggested the campaign had damaged interest groups with links to some of the party elite, and Xi had clearly realised that it was make-or-break time in the fight against them, it said.
The anti-corruption campaign - the biggest in China's recent history involving both civil and army officials - led to the investigations against Zhou Yongkang, who was part of the Communist Party of China's nine-member Standing Committee which ruled the country till 2012.
Xi, who has emerged as a strong leader, broke an unwritten rule that incumbent and retired Standing Committee members were immune from corruption probe, intensifying speculation that some affected political groups were trying to challenge his authority.
Renmin University political science professor Zhang Ming said the situation was complicated, and different parties might hit back in Beidaihe.
Zhang said the anti-graft campaign would dominate the informal summit, as leaders were expected to discuss how far the crusade would go, or if any "bigger tigers" would be caught.
The announcement of probe against Zhou suggested that Xi did not want to discuss the case at the meeting, but move forward on other possible major corruption cases and issues, he told the Post.
"At the centre is what kind of rule of law the leaders want," he said.
