Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for faster military development while touting the nation’s fight against COVID-19 as he launched the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by focusing heavily on security and reiterating policy priorities.
Xi, 69, is widely expected to win a third term at the conclusion of the week-long congress, cementing his place as China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong (毛澤東).
About 2,300 delegates from around the country gathered in the vast Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square amid tight security.
Photo: AFP
Xi described the five years since the last party congress as “extremely uncommon and abnormal,” during a speech that lasted less than two hours — far shorter than his nearly three-and-a-half-hour address at the 2017 congress.
However, he did not read out the entire work report, as he did five years ago.
“We must strengthen our sense of hardship, adhere to the bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, prepare for a rainy day, and be ready to withstand major tests of high winds and high waves,” he said.
Xi said the nation’s abilities to maintain national security, ensure food and energy supplies, secure supply chains, deal with disasters and protect personal information should be improved.
The biggest applause came when he restated his opposition to Taiwanese independence.
Goldman Sachs analysts wrote that Xi appeared to use the terms “security,” “people,” “socialism,” “modernisation” and “military” more than he did five years ago.
They said the frequency of “‘growth’ and ‘law-based governance’ remained largely stable, while that of ‘economy,’ ‘market’ and ‘reform’ declined somewhat.”
Alfred Wu (吳木鑾), an associate professor at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said that as China’s economy has slowed, Xi is attempting to shift the basis of legitimacy from economic growth to security.
“His narrative is China faces many dangers, the country is in a war-like state, figuratively, and he is the savior. With this narrative, he can get people to unite around him,” he said.
In the past few days, China has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to Xi’s “zero COVID” strategy, dashing hopes among Chinese as well as investors that Beijing might soon begin exiting a policy that has caused widespread frustration and economic damage.
Xi said little about COVID-19 other than to reiterate the validity of a policy that has made China a global outlier.
On the economy, he restated support for the private sector and allowing markets to play a key role, even as China fine-tunes a “socialist economic system” and promotes “common prosperity.”
Xi said China would prevail in its fight to develop strategically important tech, underscoring Beijing’s concern over US moves to cut it off from cutting-edge chip capabilities.
“We will focus on national strategic needs, gather strength to carry out indigenous and leading scientific and technological research, and resolutely win the battle in key core technologies,” Xi said.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
PLA MANEUVERS: Although Beijing has yet to formally announce military drills, its coast guard vessels have been spotted near and around Taiwan since Friday The Taiwanese military is on high alert and is closely monitoring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air and naval deployments after Beijing yesterday reserved seven airspace areas east of its Zhejiang and Fujian provinces through Wednesday. Beijing’s action was perceived as a precursor to a potential third “Joint Sword” military exercise, which national security experts said the PLA could launch following President William Lai’s (賴清德) state visits to the nation’s three Pacific allies and stopovers in Hawaii and Guam last week. Unlike the Joint Sword military exercises in May and October, when Beijing provided detailed information about the affected areas, it
CHINA: The activities come amid speculation that Beijing might launch military exercises in response to Lai’s recent visit to Pacific allies The Ministry of National Defense (MND) yesterday said China had nearly doubled the number of its warships operating around the nation in the previous 24 hours, ahead of what security sources expect would be a new round of war games. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the nation in response to President William Lai’s (賴清德) recent visit to Pacific allies, including stops in Hawaii and Guam, a US territory. Lai returned from the week-long trip on Friday night. Beijing has held two rounds of war games around Taiwan this year, and sends ships and military planes
Five flights have been arranged to help nearly 2,000 Taiwanese tourists return home from Okinawa after being stranded due to cruise ship maintenance issues, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications announced yesterday. China Airlines Ltd (中華航空), and EVA Airways Corp (長榮航空) have arranged five flights with a total of 748 additional seats to transport 1,857 passengers from the MSC Bellissima back to Taiwan, the ministry said. The flights have been scheduled for yesterday and today by the Civil Aviation Administration, with the cruise operator covering all associated costs. The MSC Bellissima, carrying 4,341 passengers, departed from Keelung on Wednesday last week for Okinawa,
‘UNITED FRONT’: Some Taiwanese industry leaders had not initially planned to attend, but later agreed to do so after Beijing threatened them, a source said China hopes to rebuild its supply chain by wooing Taiwanese businesses at this year’s Cross-Strait CEO Summit (CSCS) to be held today in the Chinese city of Xiamen, a source said yesterday. This year’s summit would focus on “building a cross-strait industrial chain in the new era and promoting cross-strait economic integration and development,” promotional materials for the event said. The aim is to encourage Taiwanese businesspeople who have exited the Chinese market to return and invest there as a means of countering various technology export controls that China has been encountering, the source said. Former premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) and
RSS