Xi offers Youth Day greetings
President commends young people for response to Party’s call, COVID-19 fight
President Xi Jinping encouraged China’s young people to foster stronger ideals and convictions, build up their capabilities and devote themselves to the course of national development as he greeted youth in a message published on Sunday.
The greetings by Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, came ahead of Youth Day, which falls on May 4.
In the message, Xi commended young people across the nation for their active response to the Party’s call and in the people’s war against the COVID-19 pandemic despite all the difficulties and dangers.
Their sincerity and dedication showed the keen sense of responsibility among Chinese youth today and won a high level of recognition from the Party and the people, he said.
Xi said this is the critical year for China to eradicate absolute poverty and build a moderately prosperous society in all respects. It is also a year in which the time frames of China’s Two Centenary Goals converge.
He called upon Chinese youth to inherit and give play to the May Fourth spirit in the new era, stand firmly with the people, always maintain a progressive stance and press ahead bravely in the long march of realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.
Xi urged authorities, officials and the whole of society to pay attention to youth development and help them build their careers.
The Communist Youth League of China must assume its glorious missions endowed by the Party in uniting and leading its members to make greater contributions to the course of the Party and the country in the new era, he added.
Youth Day commemorates the patriotic campaign that began on May 4, 1919, when a group of Chinese students protested the weak diplomatic response of the then Chinese government to the Treaty of Versailles that imposed unfair treaties on China and undermined the country’s sovereignty.
Xi has always paid special attention to the development of younger generations.
In his report to the 19th National Congress of the Party in 2017, he urged the whole Party to care about young people and set the stage for them to excel.
In a speech delivered at a gathering to mark the centenary of the May Fourth Movement in Beijing last year, he said young people should establish a belief in Marxism and a faith in socialism with Chinese characteristics and underscored that patriotism is the spirit that bonds the nation together.