Beijing’s 2026 Spring Festival Reception: Defensive Optics, Retired-Elite Exclusion, and a Turn Inward in Xi’s Messaging
The source depicts the CCP’s 2026 Lunar New Year reception as unusually tense, with heavy security optics and the absence of all top-ranked retired leaders. It also suggests Xi Jinping’s speech shifted away from expansive external rhetoric toward domestic stability and planning-cycle themes, indicating a more defensive public posture.