A Scientific Retreat
| AUTHOR | Anushka Saxena |
| DATE | August 10, 2026 |
| CATEGORIES | China Communist Party of China Geostrategy |
As the not-so-secret, secret Beidaihe retreat was underway in Beijing, on August 10, 2026, China Military Online (中国军网) published a note on the 60 experts coming from basic research, strategic frontier technologies, key core technologies, and philosophy and social sciences domains, who arrived on the shore of the Bohai Sea for the annual vacation. Their gathering, running between August 1 and 7, 2026, was themed “forging ahead in the 15th Five-Year Plan” (奋进’十五五’).
This meeting of experts, coinciding with the CPC cadres’ Beidaihe vacation, is in and of itself not new. The invitation started in 1987, when 14 mid-career scientists were hosted at the resort and Deng Xiaoping received some of them, and it was institutionalised in 2001, the year the Tenth Five-Year Plan first elevated talent work to the level of national strategy. It has since been conducted annually and led by the Central Organisation Department. What varies is the theme and the composition of the guest list, which usually reflects the priorities of the year and the times. For example, in 2003, Hu Jintao brought on SARS-frontline medical staff; in 2006, rural extension personnel; and in 2023, it was experts in AI, life sciences and aerospace.
There are three interesting takeaways from this year’s meeting. The first is that even though last year’s cohort was described loosely as high-tech and philosophy/social science experts (similar to 2026), this year the technologists are clubbed into three tiers — basic research, “strategic” frontier technologies, and key “core” technologies (基础研究, 战略前沿科技 and 关键核心技术) — with basic research placed first.
The second is that a bulk of defence specialists were in the room as well. The story published by 81.cn and Xinhua opens with the example of Qian Qihu (钱七虎), the 88-year-old Army Engineering University professor and protective-engineering specialist, receiving his schedule booklet and calling the invitation “an honour heavy with expectations.” Then there was Zhang Haibin (张海斌) of the 708th Research Institute of China State Shipbuilding Corporation, pledging “self-reliance in shipbuilding and marine engineering to accelerate the construction of a maritime power.” And there was Cai Shujun (蔡树军), chief scientist at China Electronics Technology Group, who describes the next five years as “critical for the leapfrog development of the integrated circuit industry,” and promises “solid chip support for building a strong country.” A companion article in the People’s Daily also added that China Academy of Engineering Physics’ Huang Hui (黄辉) attended to talk energetic materials, while CASIC’s Zhu Kun (朱坤) focused on advances in aerospace.
Finally, there’s Xinhua quoting Su Quanke (苏权科), the first recipient of the National Outstanding Engineer award, calling for accelerating the “breaking/ dismantling of the four onlys” (破四唯) and for continued governance of the “hats” (帽子) in the science and education sector, so that “researchers are willing to sit on the cold bench” (坐冷板凳). For context, the campaign against evaluating scholars by the “four onlys” – papers, professional titles, degrees and awards dates – has been a major interministry endeavour since 2018. The “hats” are the title programmes under which a designation won at, say, the age of 40, continues to attract funding, students and administrative rank for the remainder of a career. Both phenomena have been identified as skewing incentive structures and so, the push against them, though again not new, is notable at Beidaihe. That it still needs saying at the retreat in 2026 is noteworthy.
Why is that? As Yuan Yang (袁洋) of Tsinghua, the youngest invitee, observes: Basic research runs on long cycles and some results are simply hard to produce quickly. The Essentially, the CPC is asking China’s scientists, technologists, philosophers and researchers to truly understand what “new quality productive forces” means. In this regard, to truly fulfill the 15th FYP’s ambitious commitments to S&T self-reliance amidst a hostile external environment, researchers must adapt to the so-called cold bench and not rely anymore on the comfort of an “Iron Bowl.”