China’s Communist Party elite concluded a key meeting in Beijing Thursday with a promise to protect the “stability” of Hong Kong, which has been rocked by months of unrest. The Fourth Plenum of the Party’s Central Committee is a closed-door meeting of high-ranking officials where the country’s future direction is discussed, and this week’s meet was the first since February 2018. This plenum came as Chinese President Xi Jinping battles a number of international and domestic challenges, including months of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, a slowing economy, and a lingering trade war with the United States.