BEIJING, Oct 16 (Reuters) – President Xi Jinping on Sunday touted the ruling Communist Party’s fight against COVID-19, while reiterating support for the private sector and allowing markets to play a key role throughout and that China was refining a “socialist economic system”. .
In a speech at the start of a congress where he is expected to win a third leadership term that cements his place as the country’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, Xi also praised the party’s takeover of the situation in Hong Kong, which was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019.
The twice-a-decade gathering of roughly 2,300 delegates from across the country began at the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square amid tight security and under blue skies after several days of smoky the Chinese capital.
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On Taiwan, Xi said: “We have resolutely waged a major struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our firm determination and ability to safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan’s independence.”
The delegates, wearing blue masks, responded with loud applause.
Xi said the 96 million-member party “has won the biggest battle against poverty in human history.”
In his decade in power, Xi, 69, has set China on an increasingly authoritarian path that has prioritized security, state control of the economy in the name of “common prosperity,” more assertive diplomacy, a military stronger and a growing pressure to take advantage democratically. ruled Taiwan.
Analysts generally do not expect any significant change in political direction.
“We must build a high-level socialist market economic system… unswervingly consolidate and develop the public ownership system, encourage and unconditionally support the development of the private economy, give full play to the decisive role of the market in the allocation of resources. , and give a better play to the role of the government,” he said.
On COVID, Xi said China had won international praise.
In recent days, Beijing has repeatedly emphasized its commitment to Xi’s zero-COVID strategy, dashing the hope of countless Chinese citizens and investors that Beijing could begin exiting soon, a policy that has caused widespread frustration and economic damage.
Xi’s power appears undiminished by the tumult of a year that has seen China’s economy slow sharply, dragged down by frequent COVID policy gridlock, a real estate crisis and the impact of its 2021 crackdown on the once free “platform economy”. as well as global headwinds.
China’s relations with the West have deteriorated sharply, made worse by Xi’s support for Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The son of a Communist Party revolutionary, Xi has reinvigorated a party that had become deeply corrupt and increasingly irrelevant, expanding its presence into all aspects of China, with Xi officially at its “core.”
Xi abolished presidential term limits in 2018, paving the way for him to break with decades of precedent and rule for a third term of five years or more.
The congress is expected to reconfirm Xi as party general secretary, China’s most powerful post, as well as chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xi’s presidency will be renewed in March at the annual session of China’s parliament.
Ahead of the congress, the Chinese capital increased security and COVID restrictions, while steel mills in nearby Hebei province were instructed to scale back operations to improve air quality, a source said of the sector.
The day after the congress ends on Saturday, Xi is expected to unveil his new Politburo Standing Committee, a seven-person leadership team. It will include the person who will replace Li Keqiang as premier when Li steps down in March after serving the maximum two terms.
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Reporting by Yew Lun Tian, Ryan Woo, Martin Quin Pollard, Eduardo Baptista and Kevin Yao; Written by Tony Munroe; Edited by William Mallard
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