Xi’s speech to parliament is strongly nationalistic
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a strongly nationalistic tone in his closing address Tuesday to the annual session of the ceremonial parliament, saying China would never allow “one inch” of territory to be separated from it.
Speaking before the nearly 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress who had earlier abolished term limits on his rule, Xi declared that the Chinese people were “closer now than at any time in history to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
“Maintaining national sovereignty, territorial integrity and complete unification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all Chinese,” Xi said.
“In the face of national righteousness and the tide of history, all attempts or tricks aimed at dividing the motherland are doomed to failure,” Xi said to loud applause. “All will receive the condemnation of the people and the punishment of history.”
The Chinese people have the will and ability to “foil all activities to divide the nation” and are united in their belief that “every inch of our great motherland absolutely cannot and absolutely will not be separated from China,” Xi said.
Referring to self-governing Taiwan, Xi said the mainland would continue outreach to advance the cause of “peaceful unification” with the island, whose 23 million residents are strongly in favor of maintaining their de-facto independent status.
The session had earlier approved a range of new appointments, including that of key Xi ally Wang Qishan as vice president. New ministers were also appointed and a law passed establishing a powerful new anti-corruption body to oversee the civil service.
Xi also invoked China’s historical achievements in governance and culture and stressed the importance of national unity as it strove to reach new goals in poverty alleviation and economic development in coming years.
He stressed the absolute leadership of the ruling Communist Party — of which he is head — in all aspects of Chinese life, including over the 2 million-member armed forces.
Xi pledged to lead China’s 1.3 billion people into a brighter future based on its own socialist system, saying, “As long as we sincerely unite and work together, there will be no power that can stop the Chinese people from realizing their dreams!”
Xi pledged to expand the Belt and Road, his signature foreign policy initiative of building ports, bridges and railways connecting Europe with Asia — but in an apparent response to the project’s critics, said China wasn’t seeking hegemony.
“China’s development does not pose a threat to any country,” he said.
“Only those who habitually threaten others will look at everyone else as threats,” Xi added.
This year’s session has been dominated by the rubber-stamp body’s historic move on March 11 to scrap a constitutional two-term limit on the presidency dating from 1982, enabling Xi, already China’s most powerful leader in decades, to rule indefinitely.