NOW PRESIDENT FOR LIFE, XI JINPING VOWED ON TUESDAY CHINA WOULD NEVER BE DIVIDED, AND A ‘BLOODY BATTLE’ WITH ANYONE OPPOSING ITS GOAL OF SUPREMACY.
Taiwan warned against seeking independence
BEIJING • Chinese President Xi Jinping Tuesday 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. 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 unanimously 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 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.”
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 U.S. by 2050.
It came as Donald Trump reportedly intends to introduce tariffs worth up to US$60 billion a year on products from China.
Despite his ambitions, Xi said that China, which has been building military facilities in disputed territory in the South China Sea and has established military bases on recognized foreign soil since he became president in 2012, would not seek expansion.
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.