The Daily Telegraph

China warns opponents they face bloody battle

President Xi warns Taiwan against seeking greater independen­ce as Trump plans $60bn of tariffs

- By Jamie Fullerton in Beijing

CHINESE President Xi Jinping yesterday said he was ready for a “bloody battle” against opponents of his country’s march towards global supremacy and warned that China would never be divided in a nationalis­tic speech to close this year’s National People’s Congress. Mr Xi, who is set to rule China for life having scrapped presidenti­al term limits, lauded his vision of the “rejuvenati­on of the Chinese nation”.

He also sent strong warnings to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that the Communist Party of China (CPC) seeks to unify politicall­y with the mainland, saying that any efforts made toward their independen­ce would be “doomed”.

He spoke in front of around 3,000 CPC delegates, who had dutifully and overwhelmi­ngly voted to give him a second term as president at the largely ceremonial event. In the cavernous Great Hall next to Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital Mr Xi declared: “The Chinese people have been indomitabl­e and persistent, we have the spirit of fighting the bloody battle against our enemies to the bitter end.”

Mr Xi has declared a “new era” for China via “socialism with Chinese characteri­stics”.

The government’s aim, largely through increased military clout and technologi­cal advances, is to turn China into a top innovative country by 2035 and a “modern socialist nation” on par with the US by 2050.

It came as Donald Trump reportedly intends to introduce tariffs worth up to $60 billion a year on products from China. The move would be a response to what the US has called intellectu­al property theft.

The US president’s officials had given him a plan for $30billion in tariffs but he ordered them to roughly double it, the Washington Post reported. That may include tariffs on more than 100 products made by China using informatio­n taken from the US. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang yesterday called on the US to not act “emotionall­y” and to avoid a trade war.

Despite his ambitions, Mr Xi said that China, which has been building military facilities in disputed territory in the South China Sea and has establishe­d military bases on recognised foreign soil since he became president in 2012, would not seek expansion.

“Only those who are accustomed to threatenin­g others will see everyone as a threat,” he said. He underlined that seeking independen­ce for any region Beijing considers part of China was a red line issue. As state media TV cameras honed in on delegates from Taiwan, Mr Xi said: “All acts and tricks to separate the country are doomed to fail and will be condemned by the people and punished by history … the Chinese people share a common belief that it is never allowed and it is absolutely impossible to separate any inch of our great country’s territory from China.”

Many commentato­rs on Chinese social media suggested that by pushing through the abolition of presidenti­al term limits, the president has turned himself into an emperor-like figure.

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