Xi determined China will be a superpower

After five years in office, Chinese president has laid out an ambitious agenda for Beijing’s global standing

elegates to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China have been left in doubt of the ambition and intent of their nation’s President, Xi Jingping, who wants to use the next five years in office transforming China into a “mighty force” that could lead the world on political, economic, military and environmental issues. In his first five years in office, President Xi has consolidated power and launched a crackdown on party officials and their pursuit of gain through corruption, and has set Beijing on course to assert its territorial sovereignty in the South China Sea, its grip on Hong Kong and its intent to implement an unbending “one China policy” over Taiwan.

His nation’s economy has endured a hiccup in its unbridled economic growth in recent years, that represented a slowing of the annual rate of gross domestic product growth from 8 per cent and above, to figures hovering at the 6 per cent-mark. Given the spectacular growth of the Chinese economy over the past 15 years, to position it now as the second-largest on the global stage, even a GDP growth rate that is modest in Beijing’s terms, is still very acceptable for any other nation.

Xi told delegates he is determined to shun the isolationism now embraced by the United States under President Donald Trump and is championing the cause of working together as a full member and leader of the international community to further its causes. That policy includes building a “world-class military” that can fight and win wars as China aims to become a global superpower by 2050.

Since coming to power five years ago, Xi had made the fight against corruption a priority, and he left delegates with a very clear understanding that he intends to pursue wrongdoing with vigour. His China and his party will embrace technology, but will not follow a path towards a western-style democracy and would not duplicate political systems from other nations.

Xi pointed out that China would not tolerate anyone who wants to separate “one inch” of Chinese territory from the nation — a clear warning for those in Taipei and Hong Kong that Beijing would not be backing down on its determination to enforce the singularity of China’s policies.

And unlike the messages coming from the White House administration in Washington that has backed out of the Paris accord on climate change, Xi has pledged to build a “beautiful China”, one that tacked its toxic levels of pollution in its air, water and soil.