Xi declares ‘new era’ for China
BEIJING (AFP) – President Xi Jinping declared China is entering a "new era" of challenges and opportunities on Wednesday as he opened a Communist Party congress expected to enhance his already formidable power.
Xi told some 2,300 delegates at the imposing Great Hall of the People that the party must "resolutely oppose" any actions that undermine its leadership as it steers a course through a highstakes period in its development.
"The situation both domestic and abroad is undergoing profound and complex changes," said Xi, who is expected to secure a second five-year term as general secretary and stack leadership positions with loyalists during the twice-a-decade congress.
"China's development is still in a stage of important strategic opportunities. The prospects are bright, but
the challenges are also severe," he said. "Socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era."
Speaking in front of a massive hammer and sickle, Xi extolled China's rising clout abroad and its fight against poverty and inequality at home, as well as his "zero tolerance" campaign against corruption within the party.
"Every one of us in the party must do more to uphold party leadership and the Chinese socialist system and resolutely oppose all statements and actions that undermine, distort or negate them," he said.
Considered China's most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping or even Mao Zedong, Xi could use the congress to lay the foundation to stay atop the 89-million-strong party even longer than the normal 10 years, according to analysts.
That would break the unwritten two-term limit accepted by his immediate predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao — who were by Xi's side at the congress — and end the era of "collective leadership" aimed at preventing the emergence of another Mao.
Another signal of Xi's rise to the pantheon of Chinese leadership would be if his name is added to the party constitution, an honour that has only been bestowed upon modern China's founder, Mao, and the father of economic reforms, Deng.
‘Tigers and flies’ Potential rivals have been swept aside under Xi's vast anti-corruption drive, which punished 1.3 million Communist Party officials over five years.
Xi said the campaign has been "unswervingly fighting against 'tigers', 'beating flies', 'hunting foxes'" — terms used for lower- and higher-ranking officials.
His rise has also been marked by a relentless crackdown on dissent, with authorities even refusing to free Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo as he lay dying of cancer in July.
On other fronts, Xi touted efforts to restructure the military and build artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea.
Open to the world
Xi also vowed that China's economy would open further to the world.
"China will not close its doors to the world, we will only become more and more open," Xi said, pledging to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of foreign investors" and treat all businesses equally.
"Openness brings progress for ourselves, seclusion leaves one behind. China will not close its doors to the world, we will only become more and more open," Xi told some 2,300 party delegates in Beijing.
Xi has championed globalization in the face of President Donald Trump's "America First" policies.