MARCHING ORDERS
Xi hails military might at Communist Party meet
China opened a highly anticipated Communist Party meeting Sunday with a call to speed up military development and no major changes to policies that have caused tensions with the U.S. and other nations.
China’s official moves were being closely watched by governments and businesses around the globe wanting to know how Beijing will deal with a dramatic slump in its economy, the second biggest in the world, and prickly issues over its security, trade and technology.
“The next five years will be crucial,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping said in a speech at the Party Congress that lasted nearly two hours in Beijing’s huge Great Hall of the People.
He talked repeatedly about the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” a reference to reviving the party’s economic and social power like it wielded after taking power in 1949.
He said its military must “safeguard China’s dignity and core interests,” citing territorial claims and other issues that Beijing says it is ready to fight over. The country is seeking to expand its influence with ballistic missiles, aircraft carriers and overseas outposts.
“We will work faster to modernize military theory, personnel and weapons,” Xi said in his speech. “We will enhance the military’s strategic capabilities.”
Under Xi’s leadership, China has waged an assertive foreign policy, angering Japan, India and Southeast Asian governments over claims in the South China Sea, the East China Sea and part of the Himalayas. The
U.S., Japan, Australia and India formed a strategic group in response.
The party meeting, held twice per decade, will install leaders for the next five years.
The 69-year-old Xi is expected to break with tradition and give himself a third five-year term as general secretary and also promote allies who share his views.
Amnesty International has warned that an extension of Xi’s term would be a “disaster for human rights.”
Along with conditions inside China, the watchdog group has pointed to China’s efforts to “redefine the very meaning of human rights” at the United Nations.
Xi did not say anything about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which China has declined to criticize.
With Xi at its head, China’s Communist Party has thrown its support behind state-owned industry, investing in renewable energy, electric cars, computer chips and other technology.
Complaining that Beijing improperly protected and subsidized those industries, former President Donald Trump hiked tariffs on Chinese imports and set off a global trade war.
President Biden has kept those tariffs in place and recently added restrictions on Chinese access to American chip technology.
The party also has beefed up public surveillance and censorship of media and the internet. It has tightened control over citizens’ lives with a “social credit” initiative that tracks people and punishes them for violations like littering.