Chinese President Xi Jinping opened the week-long 20th Congress of the ruling Communist Party on Sunday, during which he is widely expected to win a third term and cement his status as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.
The Chinese president praised the rule of his Communist Party, and criticized the intervention of “external forces” in Taiwan, stressing that his country will not give up the right to use force over Taiwan.
“The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China is very important and is taking place at a sensitive moment, when the whole Party and people of all ethnic groups begin a new journey to build a modern socialist country in an all-round way,” Xi told Party delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Jinping condemned the interference of outside forces in Taiwan, while hailing Hong Kong’s transition from “chaos to rule”.
In his speech, Xi pledged to wage a “great struggle against separatism and interference” in the autonomous island of Taiwan, while noting that “the situation in Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to governance.”
He said that the solution to the Taiwan issue belongs to the Chinese people and that China will not give up the right to use force, stressing his country’s rejection of the “cold war mentality” in international politics.
“We have resolutely waged a strong struggle against separatism and interference, and demonstrated our firm resolve and ability to safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan independence,” he added. The delegates present responded with loud applause.
“The Battle of Poverty”
The Chinese president said the party, which has 96 million members, “has won the biggest fight against poverty in human history”.
Since taking power in China a decade ago, Xi Jinping has prioritized security, state control of the economy in the name of “general prosperity”, more assertive diplomacy, a stronger military and intense pressure to control Taiwan.
Analysts generally do not expect any significant change in policy orientation.
Basic principles
The gathering of about 2,300 delegates from all over the country began in the Great Hall of the People on the western side of Tiananmen Square amid tight security.
Xi, 69, entered the hall just before 10 a.m. (0200 GMT) and began delivering a speech in which he is expected to review the party’s achievements in recent years and set broad priorities for the next five years. Analysts generally do not expect any significant change in policy direction.
“We don’t see any reason for it to change course or make fundamental adjustments to the fundamental principles and strategies it has established over the past decade,” Redmond Wong, markets analyst at Saxo Bank, said in a note on Friday.