"Historically, the retreat has provided an opportunity for serving and retired leaders to hold informal discussions and negotiate over policy and personnel," said Neil Thomas of the Asia Society Policy Institute. But, with power increasingly concentrated within the party and in Xi's hands, "the scope for genuine bargaining has narrowed", Thomas said. State media has nonetheless said that summer visits to Beidaihe by serving and retired senior officials continued, allowing informal contact, comparing the resort town to the US presidential retreat Camp David and Russia's Sochi. Beidaihe's state-run guesthouses, heightened security every summer, and proximity to Beijing have long made it a focal point for speculation over elite politics. Xi last appeared in public during a Politburo group session on Friday on modernising China's military.