Echoes of Mao as Xi extends power
China will never give up the option of invasion to reunite Taiwan with the mainland, President Xi Jinping said as he launched the crucial Chinese Communist Party congress that will confirm his position as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.
In a 104-minute speech to the 20th party congress on Sunday, Mr Xi promised “maximum efforts” for a peaceful reunification but insisted the self-ruling democratic island would come under the sway of Beijing.
“The Taiwan problem is a matter for the Chinese people to solve, and it will be decided by the Chinese people,” Mr Xi said. “We insist on striving for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and maximum efforts, but we will never promise to give up the option to use force and we reserve the right to take all necessary measures.”
Mr Xi, 69, said to a long round of applause from the 2340 delegates in the Great Hall of the People: “The historical wheels of national reunification and rejuvenation are rolling forward, and the complete reunification of the motherland must be achieved, and it will be achieved.”
The congress began with Mr Xi’s wide-ranging “work report” on the party’s achievements during his 10 years in power, and he set out goals for the future. For the most part, he restated China’s positions on Taiwan, Hong Kong and the authority of the party, and he also suggested there would be no immediate change to the controversial “zero Covid” policy.
But he also put emphasis on resolving one of his biggest future challenges: creating a new kind of economic growth that meets the needs of business while guarding against growing inequality.
He had previously amended rules to allow himself to serve as president indefinitely, rather than being limited to two terms, opening up the possibility that he will be the first party leader since Mao to rule for life.
This bold move has met no visible dissent. As expected, the congress is a faultlessly choreographed display of unity and support for the leadership. Mr Xi took the centre position on the rostrum, with party seniors sitting in the first row behind him, including Hu Jintao, his immediate predecessor.
It is almost certain that Mr Xi will break a decades-long practice by embarking on a third term as the party’s general chief.
The week-long congress is also expected to amend the party constitution to formalise Mr Xi’s “core” position among the party leadership and to enshrine “Xi Jinping thought” as one of its guiding principles.
During his speech, the President declared the party had achieved its goal of building a well-off society by eliminating absolute poverty and drastically improving people’s lives. “To comprehensively build a socialist, modern, strong country, there are two steps in the overall strategic arrangements,” Mr Xi said, noting that China should “largely” realise socialism modernisation by 2035 and build “a rich, strong, democratic, civil, harmonious and beautiful, socialist, modern, strong nation” by 2050.
Mr Xi called the next five years a “critical” period for the nation’s economic growth and laid out a broad plan, including a strengthening of the party leadership and further developing the national economy to achieve growth and wealth distribution.