This was expected. And significant to the world.  Come Monday, some 400 members of the Communist Party's all-powerful Central Committee will begin their closed-door meeting in Beijing.  

The context is that this meeting is preparing the ground for the 20th party congress of the Chinese Communist Party where President Xi Jinping is expected to be handed a third term in office, cementing his position as China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping  

At next week's plenary that will be over on Thursday, top figures will debate a key resolution celebrating the party's main achievements in its 100 years of existence, state news agency Xinhua reported.  

 The resolution, only the third of its kind in the party's history, will help Xi shore up his grip on power by setting in stone his vision for China, ahead of the crucial 2022 party congress. 

Like all meetings of Beijing's secretive top leadership, the event will be held behind closed doors, and most key decisions are made well in advance. 

 The content has not yet been published in full but the timing of the resolution is key -- as was the case with the previous two resolutions. 

 The first, passed under Mao in 1945, helped him cement his authority over the Communist Party four years before it seized power. 

The second, adopted under Deng Xiaoping in 1981, saw the regime adopt economic reforms and recognise the "mistakes" of Mao's ways. 

Xi is set to be the natural inheritor of a process since the founding of the party that qualifies him to lead in the 'new era.