speech xi jinping

China's Communist Party Congress Xi Warns of ‘Dangerous Storms’ Facing China

In his speech, Mr. Xi cast the Communist Party, with himself at the top, as defender of the country’s security. He is expected to win a third term as leader during the party congress.

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Austin Ramzy

Xi doubles down on his agenda at the party congress.

Xi Jinping said China had faced arduous challenges over the past five years, portraying himself at the start of a momentous Communist Party congress as a leader who can guide the country through an era of danger and uncertainty.

His comments, in a speech of nearly two hours, represented a movement in the party’s focus squarely toward his obsession with security — that is, quashing all ideological and geopolitical challenges to the party’s rule — and away from economic development.

Mr. Xi, who was appointed to the party’s top post in 2012, is almost certain to receive a third five-year term at the end of the party meeting, discarding a recent precedent of regular transition at the top and cementing a return to strongman rule .

Since Mr. Xi took the top job, the nation has seen a comprehensive expansion of its economy, military strength and role as global power. But China also faces growing challenges , partly of Mr. Xi’s own making, including an economy slowed by the forceful implementation of its zero tolerance to Covid , a key policy of his.

During the speech, Mr. Xi made frequent mention of security goals and issued a broad warning of potential obstacles ahead. “Be ready to withstand high winds, choppy waters and even dangerous storms,” he said.

In other highlights from his speech:

Mr. Xi cited China’s “ zero Covid ” policy, which seeks to stamp out the coronavirus through extensive testing, quarantines and lockdowns, as an achievement — a signal that it is not going away soon, even as the pandemic has eased across the world.

Delegates applauded heartily after Mr. Xi said he wanted to achieve peaceful unification with Taiwan , the self-ruled island China claims as its own territory, but added he did not rule out the use of force — a long-held position of Beijing. “Resolving the Taiwan issue is the Chinese people’s own matter,” he said.

Mr. Xi said innovation in science and technology would be a key part of the country’s growth, emphasizing original and pioneering scientific research. He said China would move fast to launch major national projects that were strategic, big-picture and of long-term importance, seeming to emphasize state-led initiatives over what might come out of the private sector.

Chris Buckley, Alexandra Stevenson, Keith Bradsher and Paul Mozur contributed reporting.

Xi’s speech draws praise from an unexpected corner of the internet.

They all had their eyes on the pivotal speech. Bureaucrats, workers at state-owned enterprises and media executives gathered at watch parties organized by their employers. Even small groups of on-duty firefighters and police officers had a chance to tune in.

But perhaps the most notable viewers of this year’s Chinese Community Party congress were the private-sector workers who commented publicly on Xi Jinping’s speech, highlighting the power of the party’s propaganda and Mr. Xi’s expanding control of it. The shift was even more jarring because under Mr. Xi the Chinese authorities have cracked down on many sectors, including, internet, education and real estate. One lawyer in Anhui Province in China’s east went as far as posting photos on social media of a conference room full of his colleagues glued to Mr. Xi’s speech. In another post, a public relations executive of a car company gushed with excitement about going to the office on Sunday to study the speech.

“A new journey ahead,” raved the founder of a wealth management firm on WeChat. He included a propaganda screenshot from the People’s Daily newspaper app about how the Communist Party was modernizing China.

An executive of a pharmaceutical company in Shenzhen posted two propaganda posters from the People’s Daily as well as a photo of herself watching Mr. Xi delivering the speech.

To be sure, not everyone in China was eager to watch Mr. Xi. Some people tuned in to other live streams as a protest. A popular video stream from a chicken farmer was cut off after more than 400,000 people viewed it. Access to other popular live streams was also limited. The signal from the censors was clear: focus on Mr. Xi’s speech.

But social media was also where some people voiced their dissent. A tech entrepreneur cautioned his peers against cheering for Mr. Xi.

“The economy he talks about is not the market economy you expect,” the entrepreneur said. “The reform and opening up he talks about is not the same as you expected. Don’t focus on what you want to see. Haven’t you learned anything in the past 10 years?”

Another critic, a marketing executive, faulted Mr. Xi as relying too much on adjectives. The leader, he said, used the word “most” too many times. “Seems he’s violated the advertising law. Penalty starts at 200,000 yuan.”

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Keith Bradsher

Reporting from Beijing.

In Xi’s speech, he hails Marx more than markets.

BEIJING — China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday gave himself a shining report card and emphasized that the state should play a greater role in managing the Chinese economy.

“The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is now on an irreversible historical course,” Mr. Xi said.

For all of the Communist Party’s propaganda hailing Mr. Xi’s leadership in the past decade, China’s economic picture is grim — in part as a result of official policy.

China’s stringent “zero Covid” policies, including extensive municipal lockdowns, have hurt consumer spending in many sectors. The government has asserted greater control over tech companies in the name of national security. These moves have contributed to surging joblessness among Chinese younger than 25. The housing market has slumped, prompting borrowers in more than 100 cities to stop paying mortgages in an unusual protest.

In his remarks, Mr. Xi made vague pledges to promote “development that is focused on the domestic economy,” and appeared to offer reassurances that the party still valued the role of private businesses.

But in a sign of his ideological leanings, he referred to Marxism far more often on Sunday than to markets. The role of markets had been a mainstay of speeches at Communist Party national congresses by his predecessors and was still a theme in Mr. Xi’s own speech at the last congress in 2017.

Mr. Xi talked about “common prosperity,” an old term in the Communist Party vocabulary that he has emphasized lately as a broad but not well-defined concept for addressing wide inequalities in income and wealth. He said that China would “improve the personal income tax system and keep income distribution and the means of accumulating wealth well-regulated.” Such language could have broad implications for China’s wealthy elite, although he stopped short of calling for the introduction of an inheritance tax, taxes on investment gains or broadly based property taxes, as some in China have suggested.

Mr. Xi spoke repeatedly of the need to help people find jobs, and of the intrinsic value of hard work. “It gives priority to employment — that is, not a welfare state,” said Bert Hofman, a former China director of the World Bank who is now the director of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Mr. Xi revisited a theme on Sunday that had alarmed foreign governments and multinationals when he first brought it up two years ago: “dual circulation.” This refers to the notion that China has two engines of economic growth: a domestic market that largely runs on its own and an international market composed of foreign trade.

International corporate leaders and other countries’ trade officials worried when Mr. Xi started using the term two years ago that it might signal a willingness by Beijing to reserve its home market for Chinese companies, to the exclusion of foreign businesses. Until Sunday, the phrase had mostly disappeared from Chinese official statements this year.

Mr. Xi brought up the idea again on Sunday, but only in a couple of sentences. Separately, he reaffirmed China’s commitment to foreign trade, calling for the world to resist protectionism and for China to pursue the “construction of a trade powerhouse.”

Analysts predicted that the opening speech would draw a muted reaction in financial markets because of its cautious language.

“People will just be glad to get it over and done with,” said Hao Hong, the chief economist in the Hong Kong office of Grow Investment Group.

Li You contributed research.

Xi highlights efforts to build a state focused on security.

During Xi Jinping’s speech at the opening of the Communist Party congress in Beijing on Sunday the word security, or anquan in Chinese, was mentioned dozens of times, a reflection of his priorities as China’s leader and what the government will emphasize in the future.

The speech mentioned several different permutations of security: food and energy security, information security. But the chief among them was national security.

“The systems for safeguarding national security were inadequate, and our capacity for responding to various major risks was insufficient,” Mr. Xi said in describing the situation when he took power a decade ago. “Many shortcomings were affecting the modernization of national defense and the military.”

He added that those problems had been addressed under his leadership of the Communist Party.

His assessment of national security includes not just preventing threats to the nation, but threats to the power of the Communist Party and to Mr. Xi’s position at the top, analysts said.

“Security is a very high priority, particularly security of the party, the upholding of the party as China’s highest authority, and by extension protecting himself as the core of the party leadership — it all boils down to national security,” said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor of politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

American officials who have met with Mr. Xi said that in an earlier era, when relations were less strained, he would often talk about the dangers posed by malevolent forces that threatened to change China. He often spoke of his worries about “color revolutions,” a reference to the pro-democracy revolts that began in former Soviet states in the early 2000s that Russia often blamed on Western powers.

Since coming to power, Mr. Xi has built a powerful security apparatus that employs extensive networks of cameras and other surveillance equipment, backed by artificial intelligence, to monitor dissent online and on the streets. Threats can be everywhere — not just enemies at the border, but subversive ideas in classrooms and museums.

The efforts at control and coercion rely on a variety of techniques. In the northwestern region of Xinjiang, where the United States and an unofficial tribunal in Britain have accused China of carrying out genocide, the authorities have incarcerated hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs and other predominately Muslim groups in re-education camps devised to break down their religious and cultural identities.

In the former British colony of Hong Kong, Beijing has imposed a strict national security law, which has been used to imprison opposition politicians and shut down protests that once filled the streets. Mr. Xi’s emphasis on security was foreshadowed in Hong Kong this year, when Beijing installed a former security official as the territory’s leader for the first time since Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control.

Paul Mozur and John Liu

On tech, Xi points to self-reliance and state-led initiatives.

Just days after the United States hit China with sweeping new tech export controls, Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sunday called for self-reliance and the need to win a battle over “key core technologies.”

In his nearly two-hour address at the Communist Party congress, Mr. Xi emphasized the importance of technological innovation, but made strong indications that the state, not private industry, would guide key initiatives. Making only oblique references to broader tech clashes with the United States, he called for China to cultivate talent and fund basic scientific research as it seeks to increase its global competitiveness.

“Xi didn’t quite frame China’s path forward as a competition between China and the West, but rather as a storm of external pressures to be weathered,” said Kendra Schaefer, head of tech policy at Trivium China, a research group.

For China’s beleaguered internet industry, there was little indication that a series of strict new rules focused on cybersecurity, data protection and monopoly behavior would change.

Mr. Xi praised the direction of the internet environment, noting that the “cyber ecology continued to improve.” It was a signal that strict censorship and the use of the internet to spread propaganda would not lessen.

Five years ago, he called for developing a “market-oriented system for technological innovation.” This time, he focused on “national strategic needs,” a strong signal that the government will play the leading role in innovation initiatives going forward.

Instead of the web, Mr. Xi focused on achievements elsewhere. He said that China had “joined the ranks of innovative countries,” but pointed mostly to state-backed projects, including manned spaceflight, aircraft manufacturing, biomedicine and supercomputing. In another nod to government-led innovation, he said China would move fast to launch major national projects that are strategic, big-picture and of long-term importance.

Notably missing from Mr. Xi’s list of accomplishments were microchips, where China has struggled to achieve its goal of freeing itself from reliance on foreign countries. Although Mr. Xi said China would speed its efforts to build self-reliance, new United States rules restricting Chinese microchip and supercomputer firms’ access to key tech are likely to bite hard in the coming years, said Paul Triolo, senior vice president for China at Albright Stonebridge Group, a strategy firm.

“Xi likely does not yet appreciate how serious the new U.S. moves are for China’s technology ambitions. When the leadership chooses to respond after the party congress, China could unleash some surprises of its own,” he said.

Vivian Wang

Pageantry in the halls of power but silence on the streets.

BEIJING — The congress was supposed to be a crowning moment for Xi Jinping as he sailed into a near-certain third term. But at his moment of triumph, the mood on the ground was less festive.

In central Beijing on Sunday morning, traffic was scarce. At several major shopping centers with enormous outdoor LED panels — including one more than 50 feet tall — the screens, which often play the news, were black. A security guard standing below one said the screen had been turned off since the day before, though he didn’t know why. He had also been expecting to see the congress broadcast there.

Politics is a rare topic of public discussion in China at any time, given heavy censorship and fear of retaliation for airing viewpoints that deviate from the official line. But the atmosphere was probably even more muted this year, both in Beijing and around the country, because of the authorities’ extra determination to keep total control over this week’s proceedings.

The government’s fixation on a “zero Covid” policy — reaffirmed by Mr. Xi in his speech on Sunday — has trapped tens of millions of people in some form of lockdown in recent weeks and sapped economic growth. Many districts of Shanghai, which emerged from a bruising citywide lockdown only in June, have shuttered entertainment venues as cases resurge there. In Beijing, where cases are also spreading despite the government’s determination to insulate the capital, the authorities have ordered some bars and restaurants to close indefinitely and stepped up checks on mandatory regular coronavirus tests.

Police officers also blanketed the city in the days leading up to the congress, blocking most cars, bicyclists and pedestrians from some central thoroughfares, and stopping passers-by for identity checks. Their presence increased even further after a rare public protest on Thursday, in the form of two banners — hung from a bridge, then quickly removed — denouncing Mr. Xi.

Many Beijing residents seemed determined to avoid discussing the meeting.

“In China, politics is like a closely guarded secret. People don’t talk about it much, and also are unwilling to get swept up in it,” Bruce Zheng, a public relations employee, said several days before the opening while visiting the Lama Temple, a popular attraction in central Beijing.

“In the past, people would always say that Beijing taxi drivers loved to talk about politics,” he added. “Now, taxi drivers don’t talk about politics. Nobody talks about politics.”

At a popular park in Chaoyang District on Sunday, several people declined to speak with me about whether they had paid attention to news about the congress. One man agreed, but his daughter then objected, demanding that a recording of the conversation be deleted. Soon after the man and his daughter left, five police officers approached me, asking to see identification and questioning what I was doing in the park.

The contrast between the official heralding of the congress and the public’s relative silence was also apparent online. The official Weibo accounts of the Yunnan police and Shanghai firefighters’ departments shared photos of their employees studiously watching a broadcast of the opening ceremony. But room for regular social media users to share their thoughts was strictly limited. On Baidu Tieba, a popular discussion forum, a search for Mr. Xi’s name produced an error message.

On the Baidu search engine, the question “How often does the general secretary change?” returned no results.

The New York Times

Scenes from the party congress

Big official events like the Communist Party congress are, among other things, a visual extravaganza, with a strong use of color and an emphasis on symmetry and harmony.

Alexandra Stevenson

China is sticking to its ‘zero Covid’ policy.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Sunday dashed any hopes that the “zero Covid” policy — which attempts to eliminate coronavirus infections with costly lockdowns — would end in the coming months.

Mr. Xi argued that the Communist Party had waged an “all out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus.” China’s leadership has done everything it can to protect people’s health, he said, putting “the people and their lives above all else.” He made no mention of how the stringent measures were holding back economic growth and frustrating residents.

Mr. Xi emphasized that “ zero Covid ” had saved lives. To abandon it, he seemed to suggest, would be to disregard human life.

The message — delivered by Mr. Xi at the party congress — reinforced a flurry of recent propaganda published by the state media in the past week to counter mounting speculation that China might loosen its tough pandemic restrictions after the gathering.

To the rest of the world, where more effective vaccines and treatment have lessened the death toll from Covid-19, China’s approach no longer makes sense.

But China is still trying to contain the virus even as it becomes increasingly hard to do, guided by a prevailing thought that loosening up would be too dangerous for vulnerable citizens like the elderly and would overwhelm the country’s fragile hospital system.

Mr. Xi on Sunday also repeated a common refrain that China has won international acclaim for its go-it-alone approach to Covid, bolstering its influence on the international stage.

This claim was true early on in the pandemic, when China was lauded for using widespread lockdowns to stop the spread of the virus, said Yanzhong Huang, a global health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. By 2021 the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the new coronavirus just a year earlier, offered the rest of the world a glimpse of a post-pandemic world as residents went on with their lives while other countries were battling devastating outbreaks.

But as a more infectious Omicron variant broke through China’s zero Covid fortress earlier this year, officials have had to enforce increasingly stringent measures to fulfill its ongoing goal to keeping the virus out. The approach has left China isolated from the world and taken a grim toll on its economy.

“International reverence for Beijing’s Covid response approach has rapidly and significantly decreased, which has undermined China’s soft power, especially in the Western world,” said Mr. Huang.

There is also growing evidence at home that people’s patience for China’s approach to fighting Covid is waning. A nationwide mass testing requirement that was supposed to ease the pressure is not working as officials have rushed to lock down more and more cities.

Beyond the economy, experts have questioned how Mr. Xi will pivot away from a policy that has dominated the lives of 1.4 billion people for nearly three years.

“There is nothing positive or aspirational about zero Covid,” said Jude Blanchette, a China expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Instead, it’s a sword of Damocles that hangs over everyone’s head, Mr. Blanchette said, adding, “you know you’re just a few cases away from a lockdown.”

Damien Cave and Amy Chang Chien

On Taiwan, Xi Jinping warns against international ‘interference.’

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Xi Jinping’s speech on Sunday broke little new ground on the question of Taiwan but struck a sharper tone, warning the world that China, and China alone, would decide how and when to bring about unification.

Referring to Taiwan earlier in his speech than he did five years ago — a sign of its taking on more importance, analysts said — Mr. Xi stressed that China would “continue to strive for peaceful reunification,” but he also said that China reserved the right to use force and “all measures necessary.”

“This is directed solely at interference by outside forces and a few separatists seeking Taiwan independence,” he said.

Declaring a firm line on Taiwan, Mr. Xi drew one of the speech’s longest stretches of applause from delegates in the room. The focus on external forces signaled growing recognition by China that Taiwan has become more of a priority for the United States, as well as for an increasing number of countries around the world.

“International forces have turned the Taiwan issue into an international affair, which China has always been reluctant to admit in the past,” said Chen Chien-fu, a professor at the Graduate Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University in New Taipei City. “It has always felt that the Taiwan Strait issue is China’s internal affair and internal issue, but now it has become an entire international issue.”

Several analysts interpreted the speech’s Taiwan section as an incremental follow-up to a white paper that the Chinese government published after Nancy Pelosi, the U.S. House speaker, visited Taiwan in August. After her trip, the Chinese Communist Party also conducted military exercises and intensified dispatches of military aircraft and ships near Taiwan, making clear that it reserved the right both to invade, and to engage in activities that would essentially cut the islands of Taiwan off from the world.

A partial or full blockade could force Taiwan into blackouts and an economic halt. All options, Mr. Xi suggested, could be deployed against Taiwan, the self-ruled island that China claims as its territory.

“This lack of substantive commitment to specific policy approaches or instruments signals that China is still exerting what Xi also uses in the speech — ‘strategic patience,’” said Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist in the Taiwan Studies Program at the Australian National University. “They want to preserve policy flexibility.”

In response to Mr. Xi, Taiwan reiterated that it was a sovereign, independent country dedicated to democracy.

“The mainstream public opinion in Taiwan also clearly expresses that we firmly reject ’one country, two systems,’” Chang Tun-han, a spokesman for Taiwan’s presidency, said in a statement. “Taiwan’s position is very firm.”

But in what Mr. Xi said in his speech, or rather in what he did not say, there were hints of less tolerance for autonomy of any kind.

Alexander Huang, a top official with Taiwan’s Kuomintang, the political party that is friendlier to China than the Democratic Progressive Party currently in government, noted that Mr. Xi did not use the phrase “one country, two systems” in his references to Taiwan. It was in the written text of the work report, but not in his delivered remarks regarding Taiwan.

“It shows China wants to have more dominance, and more initiative in their own hands,” Mr. Huang said, adding, “It shows more self-confidence in their tone.”

Chris Buckley

What does a third term mean for Xi and China?

It’s the worst-kept secret in China. A crescendo of Communist Party adulation has left scant doubt that Xi Jinping will win a third term as party general secretary at the congress opening on Sunday, allowing him to enter a second decade of immense power.

No Chinese official, certainly not Mr. Xi, has confirmed that when the congress ends in about a week, he will be endorsed for that new five-year term by a meeting of senior officials. But the party elite’s message this month that Mr. Xi is indispensable for China’s continued rise speaks for itself, especially when there is no sign of an heir to him in the wings.

What is less clear is what Mr. Xi’s extended rule will mean for China. Mr. Xi appears to believe that his continued power will give China policy continuity and political stability, avoiding a lame-duck period or succession strife. Others warn that the uncertainties over when, or even if, he may retire and give way to a successor could eventually sow instability. Pressure will build in coming years for Mr. Xi to offer a road map for eventually handing over to a younger generation.

“Ordinary citizens and private entrepreneurs are also wondering what direction the country will go. People want some clues,” said Yuhua Wang , a professor of government at Harvard University. “The uncertainties over succession can become more dangerous if the elites start to form sides and factions.”

Mr. Xi is China’s topmost leader because he has held a trinity of prominent posts for a decade: party general secretary, state president and chairman of China’s military. His efforts to engineer a third term in power go back to at least 2018, when the national legislature abolished the two-term limit on the presidency. Neither the party post nor military chairmanship had a term limit, so that move opened the way for Mr. Xi to hold all three posts indefinitely.

In theory, Mr. Xi could hold onto his party and military posts, and hand the presidency to another official. But he appears eager to avoid the slightest doubt that he alone holds ultimate power, and is likely to be re-elected president next year. (He is all but certain to win another five years as military chairman after the party congress ends.)

When Mr. Xi walks out with his new leadership lineup on the day after the congress ends, much attention will fall on whether the lineup includes one or more potential successors. Most experts and insiders believe Mr. Xi will hold off from revealing one this time.

“I don’t think Xi wants attention taken away from him, and there are no obvious candidates,” said Trey McArver , a political analyst with Trivium China, a company that monitors Chinese policymaking.

Xi Jinping Thought, the guiding ideology of his era, is expected to get a boost.

Xi Jinping Thought is ubiquitous in China, detailed in everything from textbooks to collections of Mr. Xi’s writings, from dedicated research centers to apps for studying his works.

In China, having a political philosophy named after a leader carries enormous significance. For Mr. Xi, it is a core expression of his expanding power. At his speech opening the Communist Party’s congress in Beijing on Sunday, he said that “fully implementing” his thought was a key theme.

During the meeting this week, China’s political elite are expected to further elevate the status of the political doctrine — and by extension, Mr. Xi’s authority.

The party is likely to amend its constitution to change the name of the theory, officially known as Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

“‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism With Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ is a crown that’s too heavy to wear,” said David Bandurski, the director of the China Media Project, a research organization. “So, he wants a crown he can actually wear.”

Many analysts expect the phrase to be shortened to Xi Jinping Thought. That would make it a “pithy, direct, powerful signal” of his authority, Mr. Bandurski said.

Mr. Xi already had the full phrase inserted into the party charter in 2017. That put Mr. Xi above his most recent predecessors, Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, whose own ideological contributions, while mentioned in the same document, don’t carry their names in the titles. It even vaulted him above Deng Xiaoping, whose eponymous input is labeled a “theory.”

The ideology is more than an empty celebration of Mr. Xi. Xi Jinping Thought is a framework for China’s governance and a guide for what it will do under his continuing leadership.

The goal of Mr. Xi’s ideology is to cement the Communist Party’s role as China’s governing body, with a single strong leader — Mr. Xi himself — at the top, dispensing with the more collective leadership style of his recent predecessors.

Mr. Xi has escalated a crackdown on corruption, a widely popular effort that also helps command cadres’ loyalty to him and ensures that the party, not the public at large, decides who stays in power. He has also reinvigorated Mao’s “mass line,” in which ideas for governance are disseminated through society, with dissenting views silenced and heavy doses of propaganda used to convince the public that China’s policy is correct.

The mass line is how one of Mr. Xi’s signature policies, “zero Covid,” has been advanced in China. It calls for a continuing national campaign to eradicate the coronavirus through mass testing, strict lockdowns and lengthy quarantines. While rumors about an easing of the policy have circulated, the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the party, declared last week that it must persist.

The strength of Mr. Xi’s ideology is also its greatest weakness, Steve Tsang and Olivia Cheung, scholars at the SOAS China Institute, argued in a paper last year . In prioritizing the effectiveness of policymaking and governance, he also reduces flexibility and pragmatism, they said.

“Whether the strong hand of the party-state will deliver the same positive outcome when the going gets tough will depend on Xi getting it right,” they wrote. “So far, Xi has always doubled down when his authority is being challenged. If the same policymaking pattern holds, the rigidity of Xi’s approach is likely to undermine the resilience of the system when adaptability is needed the most.”

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These are 4 key points from Xi's speech at the Chinese Communist Party congress

John Ruwitch

More than 2,200 delegates, representing more than 96 million members of China's Communist Party, attend the congress. Lintao Zhang/Getty Images hide caption

BEIJING, China — Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech that lasted nearly two hours at a Communist Party congress on Sunday, kicking off a conclave that is widely expected to extend his rule into a second decade.

More than 2,300 hand-picked delegates from around the country have converged on Beijing for the weeklong event, which happens once every five years. It will set the tone for policy in the coming years and reshuffle the country's top officials.

In the Great Hall of the People, on Tiananmen Square, Xi trumpeted the party's achievements since he came to power a decade ago and outlined principles for party rule and policies in the years to come.

Below are four key takeaways from his speech:

President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

President Xi Jinping delivers a speech during the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Sunday.

Xi doesn't back down from 'zero COVID'

Since the early days of the pandemic, China's COVID control policies have meant tight borders, mandatory mass testing , invasive digital surveillance , forced quarantines and snap lockdowns — often of entire cities.

Xi told the 20th Party Congress that China's approach "put people and lives above all else." He offered no signals that China's tough COVID rules would end any time soon.

"In launching an all-out people's war to stop the spread of the virus, we have protected the people's health and safety to the greatest extent possible and made tremendously encouraging achievements in both epidemic response and economic and social development," he said.

Delegates wearing masks attend the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

Delegates wearing masks attend the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party.

This is hardly a surprise. Case numbers and deaths in China have been kept in check. And Xi has staked his reputation on the "dynamic zero COVID" policy by backing it firmly, time and again.

But after nearly three years of the policy, frustration and weariness are growing in China. Just three days before the congress started, protest banners were hung on a Beijing overpass denouncing the COVID policies and calling for Xi's ouster in a rare display of civil disobedience.

There's a push for economic improvement — but it will be an uphill battle

China started the year aiming for economic growth of "around 5.5%." The target has not been officially jettisoned, but the authorities do not stand a snowball's chance in hell of hitting it — thanks, in large part, to the "dynamic zero COVID" policy.

Security officers wearing face masks stand guard after the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

Security officers wearing face masks stand guard after the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of China's ruling Communist Party at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

A Reuters poll published on Saturday found that economists expect GDP to grow just 3.2% this year. After the dip in 2020, when COVID first hit, it will be "the worst performance since 1976 — the final year of the decade-long Cultural Revolution that wrecked the economy."

The economy had been slowing before COVID, though, and Xi said "high-quality development" was key to China's future, while the party should also aim to raise incomes and make sure people are happy. He said the next five years will be "crucial."

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term that breaks with recent precedent. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

He also paid lip service to "reform and opening," the party's guiding principle over the past four decades that unleashed market forces and ignited China's economy.

"We must intensify efforts to advance reform and explore new ground, and we must remain steadfast in expanding opening up," he said.

Xi has said China's commitment to reform and opening would not waver. At the same time, he has amped up the role of the state in economic affairs and taken dramatic steps to put what he sees as unruly sectors — like real estate, tech and after-school education — in check.

Xi highlighted the party's goal of making China more self-sufficient in areas including food production. He said the country should consolidate its "leading position in industries where we excel" and shore up weaknesses in areas vital to China's national security.

A member of the security staff keeps watch in front of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Xi hints at further pressure on Taiwan

Taiwan has loomed large for all of China's leaders since the Communist Party swept to power in 1949 — but Xi has pressed it with a greater sense of urgency.

His biggest applause of the day came when he said: "The wheels of history are rolling on toward China's reunification and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. Complete reunification of our country must be realized, and it can, without doubt, be realized."

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) band performs during the opening session. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Beijing considers the self-governed island a part of China and wants to unite it with the mainland eventually. The party casts this as a sacred mission, and Xi wants to be the leader who makes it happen.

"We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity ad the utmost effort, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary," he said.

Taiwan is a core issue in China-U.S. relations, which have deteriorated sharply in recent years. Friction over Taiwan has also increased, and some analysts say the risk of war is elevated.

Delegates applaud as Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption

China's global ambitions continue

A big piece of Xi's agenda for the past decade has been to advance " the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation ," and part of that has been reclaiming what the party sees as China's rightful standing in the world.

Gone are the policies of Xi's predecessors, who followed a less assertive approach on the global stage that was calibrated to afford China the time and space to develop its economy and build its strength quietly.

Xi repeated his mantra that now is a historical opportunity for China to raise its standing and influence in the world.

Attendants serve tea before the opening session of the congress. Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

"At present, momentous changes of a like not seen in a century are accelerating across the world," Xi said. "A new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is well under way, and a significant shift is taking place in the international balance of power, presenting China with strategic opportunities in pursuing development."

And he said the party should foster a sense of "purpose, fortitude and self-belief ... so that we cannot be swayed by fallacies, deterred by intimidation or cowed by pressure."

He reiterated China's foreign policy principles — respecting other countries, staying independent and peaceful, and opposing "hegemonism and power politics, the Cold War mentality" and double standards.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, is applauded as he waves to senior members of the government. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images hide caption

• Communist Party

Full Text: Speech by Xi Jinping at a ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC

BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Thursday addressed a ceremony celebrating the CPC centenary at Tian'anmen Square in Beijing.

Please see the attachment for the full text of the speech.  Enditem

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In a speech, China’s Xi Jinping calls for ‘more quickly elevating’ armed forces

BEIJING (AP) — China’s leader Xi Jinping has called for “more quickly elevating the armed forces to world-class standards,” in a speech just days after a top diplomat warned of the growing possibility of conflict with the U.S. unless Washington changes course.

China must maximize its “national strategic capabilities” in a bid to “systematically upgrade the country’s overall strength to cope with strategic risks, safeguard strategic interests and realize strategic objectives,” Xi said Wednesday.

His remarks to delegates in the ceremonial parliament representing the People’s Liberation Army, the military wing of the ruling Communist Party, and the paramilitary People’s Armed Police, were carried by the official Xinhua News Agency.

Xi issued a series of calls to accelerate the build-up of self-reliance in science and technology, bolster strategic capabilities in emergency fields, make industrial and supply chains more resilient and make national reserves “more capable of safeguarding national security.”

The program laid out by Xi dovetails with a number of national strategies already underway, including the “Made in China 2025” campaign to make China dominant in 10 key fields from integrated circuits to aerospace, and a decades-old campaign for civilian-military integration in the economy.

Xi also mentioned the need for “achieving the goals for the centenary of the PLA in 2027,” a date by which, according to some U.S. observers, China intends to have the capability of conquering self-governing Taiwan, an American ally, by military means.

READ MORE: China accuses U.S. of wrongfully targeting Chinese companies by restricting U.S. technology

China has defined the centenary goals in mostly vague terms, such as greater “informatization” and raising the PLA to “world-class standards.”

China needs to build “a strong system of strategic deterrent forces, raise the presence of combat forces in new domains and of new qualities, and deeply promote combat-oriented military training,” according to a speech Xi gave last year.

On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Qin Gang had warned in unusually stark terms about the possibility of U.S.-China frictions leading to something more dire.

“If the United States does not hit the brake, but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing and there surely will be conflict and confrontation,” Qin said in his first news conference since taking up his post last year.

“Such competition is a reckless gamble, with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity,” he added.

That echoed remarks made by Xi on Monday to delegates that seemed to underscore Chinese frustration with U.S. restrictions on access to technology and its support for Taiwan and regional military blocs in unusually blunt terms.

“Western countries led by the United States have implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression of China, which has brought unprecedented grave challenges to our nation’s development,” Xi was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency.

READ MORE: China claims it’s been ‘open and transparent’ on COVID origins

A State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, responded by saying Washington wants to “coexist responsibly” within the global trade and political system and has no intention of suppressing China.

“This is not about containing China. This is not about suppressing China. This is not about holding China back,” Price said in Washington. “We want to have that constructive competition that is fair” and “doesn’t veer into that conflict.”

Meanwhile on Wednesday, Gen. Laura J. Richardson, Commander of the U.S. Southern Command, which is responsible for South America and the Caribbean, testified before the House Armed Services Committee that China and Russia were “malign actors” that are “aggressively exerting influence over our democratic neighbors.”

China is “ spreading its malign influence , wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence,” Richardson said.

“This is a strategic risk that we can’t accept or ignore,” she added.

Among other activities, China has built a massive embassy in the Bahamas, just 80 kilometers (50 miles) off the coast of Florida.

“Presence and proximity absolutely matter, and a stable and secure Western Hemisphere is critical to homeland defense,” Richardson said.

On Thursday, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry dismissed U.S. questions and criticisms of Chinese intentions as an attempt to “make excuses for its military expansion and pursuit of hegemony.”

“Before criticizing and blaming other countries, the U.S., as the only military superpower armed to the teeth, should reflect on what it can and should do,” spokesperson Mao Ning said at a daily briefing.

In a nod to a China-U.S. relationship that has sunk to its lowest level in decades, she said Washington “should meet China halfway and push China-U.S. relations back on the track of sound and stable development, which is beneficial to both countries and the world.”

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Full Text of Xi Jinping’s Speech at China’s Party Congress

Here is the official translation of the speech delivered by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the opening of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Oct 16.

To Read More about the 20th Party Congress:

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China’s Xi calls for patience as Communist Party tries to reverse economic slump

Residents line up for public transportation in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A street vendor selling birds and crickets cycles on the road in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

A worker pushes a cart past stores in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Customers queue up at a popular crayfish restaurant in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

People wait outside a restaurant in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2023. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.” (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called for patience in a speech released as the ruling Communist Party tries to reverse a deepening economic slump and said Western countries are “increasingly in trouble” because of their materialism and “spiritual poverty.”

Xi’s speech was published by Qiushi, the party’s top theoretical journal, hours after data Tuesday showed consumer and factory activity weakened further in July despite official promises to support struggling entrepreneurs. The government skipped giving an update on a politically sensitive spike in unemployment among young people.

Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades, called for China to “build a socialist ideology with strong cohesion” and to focus on long-term goals of improving education, health care and food supplies for China’s 1.4 billion people instead of only pursuing short-term material wealth.

Since taking power in 2012, Xi has called for restoring the ruling party’s role as an economic and social leader and has tightened control over business and society since taking power in 2012. Some changes come at a rising cost as successful Chinese companies are pressured to divert money into political initiatives including processor chip development. The party tightened control over tech industries by launching data security and anti-monopoly crackdowns that wiped out billions of dollars of their stock market value.

“We must maintain historic patience and insist on making steady, step-by-step progress,” Xi said in the speech. Qiushi said it was delivered in February in the southwestern city of Chongqing. It is common for Qiushi journal to publish speeches months after they are delivered.

Economic growth slid to 0.8% in the three months ending in June compared with the previous month, down from 2.2% in January-March. That is equivalent to a 3.2% annual rate, which would be among China’s weakest in decades.

A survey in June found unemployment among urban workers aged 16 to 24 spiked to a record 21.3%. The statistics bureau said this week it would withhold updates while it refined its measurement.

The government is trying to reassure uneasy homebuyers and investors about the deeply indebted real estate industry after one of China’s biggest developers, Country Garden, failed to make a payment to bondholders and suspended trading of its bonds. A government spokesperson said Tuesday regulators are getting debt under control and risks are “expected to be gradually resolved.”

Beijing also has expanded anti-spying rules and tightened controls on information, leaving foreign and private companies uncertain about what activities might be allowed.

Xi stressed “common prosperity,” a 1950s party slogan he has revived. He called for narrowing China’s yawning wealth gap between a tiny elite and the poor majority and to “regulate the healthy development of capital” but announced no new initiatives.

“Common prosperity for all people” is an “essential feature of Chinese-style modernization and distinguishes it from Western modernization,” Xi said.

Western-style modernization “pursues the maximization of capital interests instead of serving the interests of the vast majority of people,” Xi said.

“Today, Western countries are increasingly in trouble,” Xi said. “They cannot curb the greedy nature of capital and cannot solve chronic diseases such as materialism and spiritual poverty.”

Xi Jinping secures historic third term as leader of China

HONG KONG — Xi Jinping secured a historic third term as the leader of China on Sunday, cementing his status as the country’s most powerful figure in decades and extending his authoritarian rule over the world’s second-largest economy. 

Xi’s third five-year term became official when he was the first to walk out onstage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where a twice-a-decade congress of the ruling Chinese Communist Party wrapped up Saturday. He was followed in descending order of rank by the six other members of the new Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top leadership body.

Xi is breaking with tradition by remaining in office, having amended the Chinese Constitution in 2018 to remove the two-term limit on the presidency. The Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping introduced the limit in 1982 to prevent a return to a Mao-style cult of personality. 

Here are some takeaways from the weeklong party congress:

Centralized power

The Chinese political system is structured around Xi, 69, who heads the state, the military and — most important — the Chinese Communist Party. Since he came to power in 2012, Xi has tightened the party’s grip on the state and society, sidelined political rivals and stamped out dissent .

Over the years, Xi — whom the party named a “core” leader in 2016, putting him on par with Mao and Deng — has increasingly surrounded himself with people unlikely to challenge him or his policies.

“What we’re starting to see is sort of an undermining of a lot of the rules, both formal and informal, that were put in place by his predecessors in favor of him getting his allies into the top jobs,” said James Gethyn Evans, an expert in Chinese history and politics at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University.

The trend continued Sunday, when the new Politburo Standing Committee was revealed. Xi allies Li Qiang, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi joined current members Wang Huning and Zhao Leji to form Xi’s inner circle.

Li Qiang, who as party secretary of Shanghai oversaw the city’s devastating two-month Covid lockdown last spring, came out immediately behind Xi, indicating he will succeed Premier Li Keqiang as China’s No. 2 official.

There is no obvious successor among the members of the Standing Committee, who are all men in their 60s, in a sign that Xi could be eyeing a fourth term, as well.

Xi’s tightened control was already apparent as the highly choreographed congress closes Saturday, with about 2,300 delegates unanimously approving work reports, as well as amendments to the party charter, that could further increase Xi’s authority.

They also elected a 205-member Central Committee that is stacked with Xi loyalists and no longer includes more moderate leaders like Li Keqiang, the departing premier, and former Vice Premier Wang Yang. Both men had been members of the previous Politburo Standing Committee, which along with the broader Politburo is nominally elected from among the Central Committee membership.

In a moment of unexpected drama Saturday morning, former President Hu Jintao , who had been sitting next to Xi, was escorted out of the hall without explanation shortly after foreign journalists came in. On his way out, Hu, 79, put his hand on Li’s shoulder.

Taiwan remains a flashpoint

Xi’s speech opening the congress on Oct. 16 did not include any escalation of rhetoric around Taiwan , the self-ruling island democracy that Beijing claims as its territory. He reiterated the goal of peaceful “reunification,” without renouncing the possible use of force.

“Xi has promised essentially more of the same on Taiwan,” Wen-Ti Sung, a Taipei-based expert on U.S.-China-Taiwan relations at the Australian National University, said by email. “Xi still promises no specific timeline on unification.”

But Xi did put greater emphasis on warning “external forces” to stay out of the Taiwan issue. 

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s contentious visit to the island in August has changed Washington’s relationship with both China and Taiwan, said Lev Nachman, an assistant professor at National Chengchi University in Taipei. 

“There has kind of been a reset of tone,” he said, “and I think that’s going to not just keep Taiwan in the conversation, but keep it front and center.”

Although there is always the risk of a Taiwan conflict’s being set off by accident, Nachman said, China is unlikely to make a calculated decision to invade any time soon as it deals with pressing domestic matters, like an economic slowdown and growing public frustration with Xi’s strict “zero-Covid” policy .

Nonetheless, Taiwan is very much on the minds of Chinese leaders, Evans said.

“Xi Jinping has repeatedly said Taiwan’s future is with China,” he said, “and hard-liners within the regime will be pushing for a firmer stance on Taiwan as time goes on.”

International tensions

Growing China-U.S. tensions are based in part on the conviction among many officials that the U.S., as its power is perceived to be waning internationally, is trying to undermine China’s rise on the world stage.  

So as China has grown more powerful under Xi, it has also become more assertive in defending its interests and promoting its values abroad. That was underlined last week when a scuffle broke out during a protest outside the Chinese Consulate in Manchester, England, with a protester being dragged inside the consulate grounds and “assaulted,” according to local police. (Chinese officials dispute the account.)

At a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, China’s vice foreign minister, Ma Zhaoxu, said his country’s diplomacy would “continue to display fighting spirit.”

At the United Nations and other global bodies, countries have often been caught in the middle as China and the U.S.-led West clash over the erosion of civil liberties in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region and Russia’s war in Ukraine , as well as economic issues. A U.S. ban imposed this month on the sale of advanced computer chips to China could constrain countries all around the world.

Developing countries, in particular, will find it increasingly tricky to avoid choosing a side, Evans said.

“It’ll be either through pressure from the U.S. or from China very much a case of ‘You’re either with us or you’re against us,’” he said.

Full text of Xi's speech at welcome dinner in U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech on Wednesday at a welcome dinner in San Francisco.  The following is the full text of the speech:  Galvanizing Our Peoples into a Strong Force  For the Cause of China-U.S. Friendship  Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping  President of the People's Republic of China  At Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States  San Francisco, November 15, 2023  Ladies and Gentlemen,  Friends,  It gives me great pleasure to meet with you, friends from across the American society, in San Francisco to renew our friendship and strengthen our bond. My first visit to the United States in 1985 started from San Francisco, which formed my first impression of this country. Today I still keep a photo of me in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Before going further, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council, the Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other friendly organizations for hosting this event. I also want to express my warm greetings to all American friends who have long committed to growing China-U.S. relations and my best wishes to the friendly American people.  San Francisco has borne witness to exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples for over a century. A hundred and fifty-eight years ago, a large number of Chinese workers came all the way to the United States to build the first transcontinental railroad, and established in San Francisco the oldest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. From here, China and the United States have made many achievements – $760 billion of annual bilateral trade and over $260 billion of two-way investment, 284 pairs of sister provinces/states and sister cities, and over 300 scheduled flights every week and over five million travels every year at peak time. These extraordinary accomplishments were made jointly by our peoples accounting for nearly one quarter of the global population.  San Francisco has also borne witness to the efforts by China and the United States in building a better world. 78 years ago, after jointly defeating fascism and militarism, our two countries initiated together with others the San Francisco Conference, which helped found the United Nations, and China was the first country to sign the UN Charter. Starting from San Francisco, the postwar international order was established. Over 100 countries have gained independence one after another. Several billion people have eventually shaken off poverty. The forces for world peace, development and progress have grown stronger. This has been the main fruit jointly achieved by people of all countries and the international community.  Ladies and Gentlemen,  Friends,  The foundation of China-U.S. relations was laid by our peoples. During World War II, our two countries fought side by side for peace and justice. Headed by General Claire Lee Chennault, a group of American volunteers, known as the Flying Tigers, went to the battlefield in China. They not only engaged in direct combats fighting Japanese aggressors, but also created "The Hump" airlift to transport much-needed supplies to China. More than 1,000 Chinese and American airmen lost their lives on this air route. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States sent 16 B-25 bombers on an air raid to Japan in 1942. Running low on fuel after completing their mission, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle and his fellow pilots parachuted in China. They were rescued by Chinese troops and local civilians. But some 250,000 civilian Chinese were killed by Japanese aggressors in retaliation.  The Chinese people never forget the Flying Tigers. We built a Flying Tigers museum in Chongqing, and invited over 1,000 Flying Tigers veterans and their families to visit China. I have kept in touch with some of them through letters. Most recently, 103-year-old Harry Moyer and 98-year-old Mel McMullen, both Flying Tigers veterans, went back to China. They visited the Great Wall, and were warmly received by the Chinese people.  The American people, on their part, always remember the Chinese who risked their lives to save American pilots. Offspring of those American pilots often visit the Doolittle Raid Memorial Hall in Quzhou of Zhejiang Province to pay tribute to the Chinese people for their heroic and valorous efforts. These stories fill me with firm confidence that the friendship between our two peoples, which has stood the test of blood and fire, will be passed on from generation to generation.  The door of China-U.S. relations was opened by our peoples. For 22 years, there were estrangement and antagonism between our two countries. But the trend of the times brought us together, converging interests enabled us to rise above differences, and the people's longing broke the ice between the two countries. In 1971, the U.S. table tennis team visited Beijing – a small ball moved the globe. Not long after that, Mr. Mike Mansfield led the first U.S. Congressional delegation to China. This was followed by the first governors' delegation including Iowa Governor Robert Ray and then many business delegations, forming waves of friendly exchanges.  This year, after the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, I have respectively met in Beijing with Dr. Henry Kissinger, Mr. Bill Gates, Senator Chuck Schumer and his Senate colleagues, and Governor Gavin Newsom. I told them that the hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels. I welcome more U.S. governors, Congressional members, and people from all walks of life to visit China.  The stories of China-U.S. relations are written by our peoples. During my first visit to the United States, I stayed at the Dvorchaks in Iowa. I still remember their address – 2911 Bonnie Drive. That was my first face-to-face contact with the Americans. The days I spent with them are unforgettable. For me, they represent America. I have found that although our two countries are different in history, culture and social system and have embarked on different development paths, our two peoples are both kind, friendly, hardworking and down-to-earth. We both love our countries, our families and our lives, and we both are friendly toward each other and are interested in each other. It is the convergence of many streams of goodwill and friendship that has created a strong current surging across the vast Pacific Ocean; it is the reaching out to each other by our peoples that has time and again brought China-U.S. relations from a low ebb back onto the right track. I am convinced that once opened, the door of China-U.S. relations cannot be shut again. Once started, the cause of China-U.S. friendship cannot be derailed halfway. The tree of our peoples' friendship has grown tall and strong; and it can surely withstand the assault of any wind or storm.  The future of China-U.S. relations will be created by our peoples. The more difficulties there are, the greater the need for us to forge a closer bond between our peoples and to open our hearts to each other, and more people need to speak up for the relationship. We should build more bridges and pave more roads for people-to-people interactions. We must not erect barriers or create a chilling effect.  Today, President Biden and I reached important consensus. Our two countries will roll out more measures to facilitate travels and promote people-to-people exchanges, including increasing direct passenger flights, holding a high-level dialogue on tourism, and streamlining visa application procedures. We hope that our two peoples will make more visits, contacts and exchanges and write new stories of friendship in the new era. I also hope that California and San Francisco will continue to take the lead on the journey of growing China-U.S. friendship!  Ladies and Gentlemen,  Friends,  We are in an era of challenges and changes. It is also an era of hope. The world needs China and the United States to work together for a better future. We, the largest developing country and the largest developed country, must handle our relations well. In a world of changes and chaos, it is ever more important for us to have the mind, assume the vision, shoulder the responsibility, and play the role that come along with our status as major countries.  I have always had one question on my mind: How to steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations clear of hidden rocks and shoals, navigate it through storms and waves without getting disoriented, losing speed or even having a collision?  In this respect, the number one question for us is: are we adversaries, or partners? This is the fundamental and overarching issue. The logic is quite simple. If one sees the other side as a primary competitor, the most consequential geopolitical challenge and a pacing threat, it will only lead to misinformed policy making, misguided actions, and unwanted results. China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States. The fundamental principles that we follow in handling China-U.S. relations are mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.  Just as mutual respect is a basic code of behavior for individuals, it is fundamental for China-U.S. relations. The United States is unique in its history, culture and geographical position, which have shaped its distinct development path and social system. We fully respect all this. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been found under the guidance of the theory of scientific socialism, and is rooted in the tradition of the Chinese civilization with an uninterrupted history of more than 5,000 years. We are proud of our choice, just as you are proud of yours. Our paths are different, but both are the choice by our peoples, and both lead to the realization of the common values of humanity. They should be both respected.  Peaceful coexistence is a basic norm for international relations, and is even more of a baseline that China and the United States should hold on to as two major countries. It is wrong to view China, which is committed to peaceful development, as a threat and thus play a zero-sum game against it. China never bets against the United States, and never interferes in its internal affairs. China has no intention to challenge the United States or to unseat it. Instead, we will be glad to see a confident, open, ever-growing and prosperous United States. Likewise, the United States should not bet against China, or interfere in China's internal affairs. It should instead welcome a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.  Win-win cooperation is the trend of the times, and it is also an inherent property of China-U.S. relations. China is pursuing high-quality development, and the United States is revitalizing its economy. There is plenty of room for our cooperation, and we are fully able to help each other succeed and achieve win-win outcomes.  The Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) proposed by China are open to all countries at all times including the United States. China is also ready to participate in U.S.-proposed multilateral cooperation initiatives. This morning, President Biden and I agreed to promote dialogue and cooperation, in the spirit of mutual respect, in areas including diplomacy, economy and trade, people-to-people exchange, education, science and technology, agriculture, military, law enforcement, and artificial intelligence. We agreed to make the cooperation list longer and the pie of cooperation bigger. I would like to let you know that China sympathizes deeply with the American people, especially the young, for the sufferings that Fentanyl has inflicted upon them. President Biden and I have agreed to set up a working group on counternarcotics to further our cooperation and help the United States tackle drug abuse. I also wish to announce here that to increase exchanges between our peoples, especially between the youth, China is ready to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years.  Recently, the three pandas at Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C. have returned to China. I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off. I also learned that the San Diego Zoo and the Californians very much look forward to welcoming pandas back. Pandas have long been envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples. We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples.  Ladies and Gentlemen,  Friends,  China is the largest developing country in the world. The Chinese people long for better jobs, better lives, and better education for their children. It is what the 1.4 billion Chinese hold dear to their hearts. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is committed to working for the people, and our people's expectation for a better life is our goal. This means we must work hard to secure their support. Thanks to a century of exploration and struggle, we have found the development path that suits us. We are now advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization.  We are committed to striving in unity to achieve modernization for all Chinese. A large population is a fundamental aspect of China's reality. Our achievements, however great, would be very small when divided by 1.4 billion. But a problem, however small, would be huge when multiplied by 1.4 billion. This is a unique challenge for a country of our size. In the meantime, big also means strength. The leadership of the CPC, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the endorsement and support of the people are our greatest strengths. China is both a super-large economy and a super-large market. Not long ago the sixth China International Import Expo was held, attracting over 3,400 business exhibitors from 128 countries including the United States. The exhibition area of American companies has been the largest for six consecutive years at the Expo. Modernization for 1.4 billion Chinese is a huge opportunity that China provides to the world.  We are committed to prosperity for all to deliver a better life for each and every Chinese. To eliminate poverty is the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, and prosperity for all is the longing of all Chinese. Before I turned 16, I was in a village in northern Shaanxi Province, where I lived and farmed with villagers, and I knew about their worries and needs. Now half a century on, I always feel confident and strong when staying with the people. Serving the people selflessly and living up to their expectations is my lifelong commitment. When I became General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the People's Republic of China, 100 million people were still living below the poverty line set by the United Nations. Thanks to eight years of tenacious efforts, we lifted them all out of poverty. We realized the poverty reduction goal of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. In the process, over 1,800 CPC members lost their lives in the line of duty.  Our goal is not to have just a few wealthy people, but to realize common prosperity for all. Employment, education, medical services, child care, elderly care, housing, the environment and the like are real issues important to people's daily life and close to their heart. They are being steadily integrated into our top-level plans for national development, thus ever increasing the sense of fulfillment, happiness and security of our people. We will continue to promote high-quality development and deliver the benefits of modernization to all. This is the CPC's founding mission and the pledge we have made to the people. It will surely be realized with the support of the people.  We are committed to well-rounded development to achieve both material and cultural-ethical advancement for the people. Our forefathers observed that "When people are well-fed and well-clad, they will have a keen sense of honor and shame." Material shortage is not socialism, nor is cultural-ethical impoverishment. Chinese modernization is people-centered. An important goal of Chinese modernization is to continue increasing the country's economic strength and improving the people's living standards, and at the same time, enriching the people's cultural lives, enhancing civility throughout society and promoting well-rounded development of the person. The purpose of the Global Civilization Initiative I proposed is to urge the international community to address the imbalance between material and cultural advancement and jointly promote continued progress of human civilization.  We are committed to sustainable development to achieve harmony between man and nature. The belief that humans are an integral part of nature and need to follow nature's course is a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese culture. We live in the same global village, and we possibly won't find another inhabitable planet in our lifetime. As an English saying goes, "We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." When I was Governor of Fujian Province in 2002, I called for turning Fujian into the first ecological province in China. Later when I worked in Zhejiang Province in 2005, I said that clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver. Today, this view has become a consensus of all the Chinese people. China now has close to half of the world's installed photovoltaic capacity. Over half of the world's new energy vehicles run on roads in China, and China contributes one-fourth of increased area of afforestation in the world. We will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. We have made the pledge, and we will honor it.  We are committed to peaceful development to build a community with a shared future for mankind. Peace, amity and harmony are values embedded in Chinese civilization. Aggression and expansion are not in our genes. The Chinese people have bitter and deep memories of the turmoils and sufferings inflicted upon them in modern times. I often say that what the Chinese people oppose is war, what they want is stability, and what they hope for is enduring world peace. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be achieved without a peaceful and stable international environment. In pursuing modernization, we will never revert to the beaten path of war, colonization, plundering or coercion.  Throughout the 70 years and more since the founding of the People's Republic, China has not provoked a conflict or war, or occupied a single inch of foreign land. China is the only major country that has written peaceful development into the Constitution of the country and the Constitution of the governing party, thus making peaceful development a commitment of the nation. It benefits from and safeguards the current international order. We remain firm in safeguarding the international system with the UN at its core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others. China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone. China will remain committed to dialogue and oppose confrontation, and build partnerships instead of alliances. It will continue to pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone. We are ready to work with all countries to advance global modernization featuring peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity, and to build a community with a shared future for mankind.  Ladies and Gentlemen,  Friends,  The passage of time is like a surging river – much is washed away, but the most valuable stays. No matter how the global landscape evolves, the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between China and the United States will not change. The ultimate wish of our two peoples for exchanges and cooperation will not change. The expectations of the whole world for a steadily growing China-U.S. relationship will not change. For any great cause to succeed, it must take root in the people, gain strength from the people, and be accomplished by the people. Growing China-U.S. friendship is such a great cause. Let us galvanize the Chinese and American peoples into a strong force to renew China-U.S. friendship, advance China-U.S. relations, and make even greater contributions to world peace and development!

(Cover: An aerial view of Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, the U.S. /CFP)

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Xi Jinping’s 19th Party Congress Speech Heralds Greater Assertiveness in Chinese Foreign Policy

Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

Commentary by Matthew P. Funaiole and Bonnie S. Glaser

Published October 26, 2017

In a landmark address that kicked off the 19th Party Congress, President Xi Jinping articulated his vision for China’s future. The three and half hour reading of the work report witnessed Xi waxing poetic about the priorities of rejuvenating Chinese power and realizing the Chinese Dream. Although Xi’s primary focus was on domestic achievements, goals and challenges, his speech provides crucial insights into how China’s strongman leader seeks to advance his country’s role in the world. The main takeaway for the international community is that Xi Jinping is extremely confident in China’s growing national power and sees international trends working in China’s favor. Against the background of China’s expanding global interests, these assessments suggest that the international community may face an even more assertive China in the years to come.

At the heart of Xi’s vision for China’s future is a two-stage plan he put forward to achieve China’s second centennial goal of becoming a “fully developed nation” by 2049—the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic. The objectives laid out by Xi for the first stage from 2020 to 2035 are primarily domestic, with the end goal of “basically realizing” socialist modernization. The only reference by Xi to China’s international role during this stage is that the country will become a “global leader in innovation.” However, in the second stage from 2035 to 2045, Xi set forth a more outward looking agenda. By the middle of the 21st century, Xi asserted, China will have become “a global leader in terms of comprehensive national power and international influence.”

Importantly, Xi explicitly maintained that his articulation of China’s future derives from an assessment of the international situation that is favorable to China. After noting that the world is “in the midst of profound and complex changes,” Xi drew attention to what he described as “trends of global multipolarity” that are “surging forward” and “changes in…the international order” that are accelerating. He furthermore noted that “relative international forces are becoming more balanced.” In another part of the speech, Xi declared that “the Chinese nation…now stands tall and firm in the East.” These statements collectively suggest that Beijing is optimistic that the global balance of power is trending in its direction. China’s judgment that the United States is in decline, which can be traced to the onset of the global financial crisis in 2009, is even more certain today, as it sees American global leadership eroding under President Trump.

China’s prediction of U.S. decline combined with Xi’s confidence in China’s future likely inspired Xi’s unprecedented espousal of China’s development path as a model for the world, especially developing countries. According to Xi, socialism with Chinese characteristics has “blazed a new trail for other developing countries to achieve modernization” and provides “a new option for other countries and nations who want to speed up their development.” Moreover, it “offers Chinese wisdom and a Chinese approach to solving the problems facing mankind.” Such statements express an apparent belief that China presents a credible alternative to liberal democracy.

Xi’s message to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) regarding Chinese military priorities, although not tied to advancing concrete foreign policy objectives, suggests a perceived need to be prepared to employ military power and hints at a greater willingness to do so in the future. Underscoring that “a military is built to fight,” Xi called on the PLA to “regard combat capability as the criterion to meet in all its work” and to focus on “winning wars” if called upon to fight. By the end of the first stage in 2035, “modernization of our national defense and our forces” will be “basically completed,” Xi declared. At the mid-century mark, Xi expects the PLA will be “fully transformed into a first-tier force.” Such desires are not unusual; rising powers often seek to reinforce their expanding security needs with military might. However, the pairing of these objectives with Xi’s ambition to increase China’s international influence and serve as a development model reinforces the widely held assessment that China harbors a deep-seated desire to displace the United States as the dominant power in Asia.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, there was no mention of China’s “core national interests,” which attracted much international attention several years ago. The task of safeguarding China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests was primarily discussed in the work report in the context of Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. Additionally, Xi opted to boldly highlight the “steady progress” in the construction of islands and reefs in the South China Sea as a major achievement of his first term. That characterization may suggest that China will prioritize strengthening its control over the contested waterway at the cost of rising friction with its neighbors and the United States.

Although Xi assured the world that China won’t seek hegemony and will “continue to play its part as a major and responsible country,” the overarching vision he laid out should raise alarm bells in Asian and Western capitals. The problem isn’t the implicit rejection of Deng Xiaoping’s guideline of keeping a low profile. China as a proactive leader would be welcomed if it worked alongside other nations to strengthen international rules and norms.

Yet throughout his first term Xi has sent conflicting signals about whether he intends to support a rules-based international order. China’s growing participation in global governance measures, such as UN peacekeeping operations, have largely been overshadowed by Xi’s other policies. Observers need only look to China’s declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea and rejection of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) tribunal’s ruling in the South China Sea for examples of how Beijing responds when confronted by international norms and practices it finds unsavory.

The portrayal of China as a governance model for other nations is especially worrisome as it suggests a newfound willingness to offer an alternative to the Western liberal international order and directly confront the United States, which has previously been eschewed. As articulated in the Party Congress work report, Xi’s vision for the future may signal an intention to double down on challenging elements of the prevailing world order that Beijing sees as contrary to Chinese interests. Should this come to pass, the international community might look back at the 19th Party Congress as the moment when China’s long march toward reclaiming its great power status was matched with the confidence needed to present China as a buttress against Western liberalism.

(This article was first published in the Lowy Interpreter and is reprinted here with permission.)

Bonnie S. Glaser is a senior adviser for Asia and director of the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C. Matthew P. Funaiole is a fellow with the CSIS China Power Project.

Commentary is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).

© 2017 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. All rights reserved.

Matthew P. Funaiole

Bonnie s. glaser, programs & projects.

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Full text of Xi speech marking 25 years since Hong Kong's return to China

Chinese President vows to maintain 'one country, two systems'

The following is the full text of Chinese President Xi Jinping's address at the meeting marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to  China on July 1  from the official Xinhua News Agency. Follow Nikkei Asia's in-depth coverage of Chinese politics  here .

Fellow Compatriots,

Dear Friends,

Today we are gathered here to celebrate this grand occasion marking the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, and to hold the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

First of all, I would like to extend sincere greetings to all the people of Hong Kong. I also extend warm congratulations to the newly inaugurated sixth-term HKSAR Chief Executive Mr. John Lee, principal officials of the sixth-term HKSAR government, and members of the Executive Council. And let me express heartfelt appreciation to all our compatriots both at home and abroad, and international friends for their support for the cause of "one country, two systems" and for Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.

In the over 5,000-year history of Chinese civilization, our ancestors working hard on the land south of the Five Ridges is an important chapter. In the history of modern China after the Opium War in 1840, the humiliation of ceding Hong Kong is a page of pain, and also included is the Chinese people's fight for the survival of our country. The past century has witnessed how the Communist Party of China has united and led the Chinese people in its magnificent endeavors for a better future, to which fellow Chinese in Hong Kong have made unique and significant contributions. Throughout history, people in Hong Kong have always maintained a close bond with the motherland in weal and woe.

Hong Kong's return to the motherland marked the beginning of a new era for the region. Over the past 25 years, with the full support of the country and the joint efforts of the HKSAR government and people from all walks of life in Hong Kong, the success of "one country, two systems" has won recognition throughout the world.

Since its return, Hong Kong, amid China's monumental reform and opening-up efforts, has been breaking new ground, functioning as an important bridge between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. As a result, it has made irreplaceable contributions to our country's economic miracle marked by long-term, stable, and rapid growth. Proactively integrating itself into the country's overall development and carving out its role in national strategies, Hong Kong has maintained its strengths in its high degree of openness and in aligning with international rules. In doing so, the region has been playing an important role in raising China's opening up to a higher level with wider coverage and scope. With continuously expanding areas and enabling mechanisms for Hong Kong's cooperation and exchanges with the mainland, people in Hong Kong now have better opportunities to start their own businesses and make achievements.

Since its return, Hong Kong has overcome various hardships and challenges and advanced steadily forward. Be it the global financial crisis, the COVID-19 epidemic, or social unrest, none of them have stopped Hong Kong from marching forward. Over the past 25 years, Hong Kong's economy has been thriving, its status as an international financial, shipping, and trading center has been maintained, and its innovative science and technology industries have been booming. Hong Kong has remained one of the most liberal and open economies in the world, it has also maintained a world-class business environment, its previous laws including the practice of the common law have been maintained and developed, various social programs have made all-around progress, and overall social stability has been ensured. As a cosmopolis, Hong Kong's vitality has impressed the world.

Since its return, Hong Kong has ensured its people enjoy their status as masters of the region. With the policy of the people of Hong Kong administering Hong Kong and a high degree of autonomy in practice, the region has truly entered an era of democracy. Over the past 25 years, Hong Kong's constitutional order based on the Constitution of the People's Republic of China and the Basic Law of the HKSAR has been maintained in a steady and sound manner. The central government's overall jurisdiction over Hong Kong has been well implemented, and a high degree of autonomy in the region has been exercised as it should. The Hong Kong National Security Law was adopted, which has established the legal system to safeguard national security in the region. The electoral system of Hong Kong has been modified and improved, thereby materializing the principle that Hong Kong should be administered by patriots. The democratic system of the special administrative region (SAR) conforms to both the "one country, two systems" principle and the region's constitutional status. It is in the interest of Hong Kong residents' democratic rights and the region's prosperity and stability, securing a bright future for the region.

"One country, two systems" is an unprecedented innovation. Its fundamental purpose is to safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and development interests and to maintain long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong and Macao. All that the central government has done are for the benefits of Hong Kong and Macao, for the well-being of all residents of the two regions, and for the future of the whole country. At the meeting celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland in 2017, I stated that the central government, in implementing the principle of "one country, two systems," will maintain two key points: first, the central government will remain resolute in implementing the principle, and will not change or vacillate in this stand; and second, the principle will be implemented as what it is originally intended precisely. Today, I would like to stress again that "one country, two systems" has been tested repeatedly in practice. It serves the fundamental interests of not only Hong Kong and Macao, but also the whole country and the nation. It has gained wide support from the 1.4 billion-plus Chinese people including the residents of Hong Kong and Macao. It is also widely accepted by the international community. There is no reason for us to change such a good policy, and we must adhere to it in the long run.

A review of the past can light the way forward. The practice of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong has left us both valuable experience and profound inspiration. What has been done over the past 25 years tells us that only if we have a profound and accurate understanding of the laws guiding the practice of "one country, two systems," can we make sure our cause advances in the right direction in a sound and sustained manner.

First, we must fully and faithfully implement the principle of "one country, two systems." This principle embodies a complete system. Its top priority is to safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests. With this as a prerequisite, Hong Kong and Macao can keep the previous capitalist systems unchanged for a long time and enjoy a high degree of autonomy. Since the socialist system is the fundamental system of the People's Republic of China and leadership by the Communist Party of China is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics, all residents in the special administrative regions should willingly respect and uphold the country's fundamental system. The thorough and precise implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle will open up broader prospects for the development of Hong Kong and Macao. The more firmly the "one country" principle is upheld, the greater strength the "two systems" will be unleashed for the development of the SARs.

Second, we must uphold the central government's overall jurisdiction while securing the SARs' high degree of autonomy. Since Hong Kong's return to the motherland, it has been re-integrated into China's governance system, and a constitutional order was established with the "one country, two systems" principle as its fundamental guideline. The central government's overall jurisdiction over the SARs underpins their high degree of autonomy, and such autonomy bestowed by the law is fully respected and resolutely safeguarded by the central government. Only when the enforcement of the central government's overall jurisdiction dovetails with the fulfillment of a high degree of autonomy in the SARs, can the SARs be well governed. The SARs uphold the executive-led system. The executive, legislative, and judicial branches perform their duties in accordance with the basic laws and other relevant laws. The executive and legislative branches check and balance and cooperate with each other while the judiciary exercises its power independently.

Third, we must ensure that Hong Kong is administered by patriots. It is a universal political rule that a government must be in the hands of patriots. There is no country or region in the world where its people will allow an unpatriotic or even treasonous force or figure to take power. The government of the HKSAR must be safely kept in the hands of those who love the country. This is an essential requirement for Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability and must not be compromised under any circumstances. To put the governing power in the right hands is to safeguard Hong Kong's prosperity and stability as well as the immediate interests of more than 7 million people in the region.

Fourth, we must maintain Hong Kong's distinctive status and advantages. The central government has always handled Hong Kong affairs from a strategic and overall perspective, taking into consideration the fundamental and long-term interests of Hong Kong and the country as a whole. The fundamental interests of Hong Kong are in line with those of the country, and the central government and Hong Kong compatriots share the same aspirations. Hong Kong's close connection with the world market and strong support from the motherland are its distinctive advantages. Such favorable conditions are cherished by the people of Hong Kong and by the central government as well. The central government fully supports Hong Kong in its effort to maintain its distinctive status and edges, to improve its presence as an international financial, shipping, and trading center, to keep its business environment free, open, and regulated, and to maintain the common law, so as to expand and facilitate its exchanges with the world. On the country's journey toward building a modern socialist country in all respects and realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the central government believes that Hong Kong will make great contributions.

Hong Kong compatriots have never been absent in the process, in which the Chinese people and the Chinese nation have realized the great transformation from standing up to growing prosperous and finally to becoming strong. From disarray to good governance, Hong Kong is entering a new phase of becoming more prosperous. The next five years are important for Hong Kong to break new ground and achieve another leap forward. While there are both opportunities and challenges, opportunities outnumber challenges. The central government and people from all sectors of Hong Kong society expect much of the newly inaugurated HKSAR government. People of all ethnic groups across the country wish Hong Kong have promising prospects. For Hong Kong, I have four proposals.

First, Hong Kong should further improve its governance. To promote the development of the HKSAR, it is of urgency to improve Hong Kong's governance system, governance capacity, and governance efficacy. The chief executive and the government of the HKSAR in the driver's seat are the first to be held accountable for the governance of the region. Administrators of Hong Kong should fulfill their commitments, materialize the "one country, two systems" principle with concrete actions, uphold the authority of the Basic Law of the HKSAR and devote themselves to the development of the region. Personnel for public offices should be assessed on both ability and political integrity before they are recruited. Professionals who love both the motherland and Hong Kong with strong governance capabilities and passion for serving the public should be recruited as government staff. Administrators of Hong Kong need to have a new outlook on the motherland and have an international vision in order to make better development plans for the region from an overall and long-term perspective. They need to transform their concepts of governance to balance the relationship between the government and the market so that a capable government serves an efficient market. The HKSAR government needs to strengthen self-governance and improve its conduct to better take on its responsibilities and deliver better performance in ensuring stability and prosperity in Hong Kong.

Second, Hong Kong should continue to create strong impetus for growth. With its special status, Hong Kong enjoys good conditions and broad space for development. The central government fully supports Hong Kong in its effort to seize historic opportunities offered by China's development and actively dovetail itself with the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) and other national strategies such as the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. The central government fully supports Hong Kong in carrying out more extensive exchanges and close cooperation with the rest of the world and in attracting entrepreneurs with dreams to realize their ambitions in Hong Kong. The central government also fully supports Hong Kong in taking active yet prudent steps to advance reforms and dismantle the barriers of vested interests in order to unlock enormous creativity and development potential of Hong Kong society.

Third, Hong Kong should earnestly address people's concerns and difficulties in daily life. "Those enjoying benefits and joy of all people should also share their burdens and concerns." As I once said, the people's aspiration for a better life is what we are striving for. Currently, the biggest aspiration of Hong Kong people is to lead a better life, in which they will have more decent housing, more opportunities for starting their own businesses, better education for their children, and better care in their twilight years. We should actively respond to such aspirations. The newly inaugurated HKSAR government should be pragmatic, live up to what the people expect of it, and consider the expectations of the whole society, particularly ordinary citizens, as what it should accomplish foremost. It should be more courageous and adopt more efficient measures to overcome difficulties and forge ahead. It should make sure that all citizens in Hong Kong share more fully and fairly in the fruits of development so that every resident will be convinced that if you work hard, you can improve the life of your own and that of your family.

Fourth, the people of Hong Kong should work together to safeguard harmony and stability. Hong Kong is the home of all its people, and harmony in a family brings success in everything. Through trials and tribulations, now we keenly feel that Hong Kong cannot withstand chaos and will not afford to have any, and we also deeply feel that the development of Hong Kong allows no delay. We must get rid of whatever interference there may be to concentrate our attention on the development of the region. Everyone in Hong Kong, regardless of profession and belief, can be a positive force and do his or her bit for the region's development as long as he or she genuinely supports the principle of "one country, two systems," loves Hong Kong, and abides by the Basic Law and the laws of the special administrative region.

It is my hope that all fellow compatriots in Hong Kong will carry on the mainstream values, which are characterized by the love of both the motherland and Hong Kong as the core and are in conformity with the principle of "one country, two systems," and that they will continue to follow the fine traditions of inclusiveness, seeking common ground while reserving differences, and keeping an unyielding spirit and the courage to strive for success with a view to creating a better future.

We must give special love and care to young people. Hong Kong will prosper only when its young people thrive; Hong Kong will develop only when its young people achieve well-rounded development; and Hong Kong will have a bright future only when its young people have good career prospects. We must guide young people to be keenly aware of the trends in both China and the world and help them cultivate a sense of national pride and enhance their awareness of their status as masters of the country. We must help young people with their difficulties in studies, employment, entrepreneurship, and purchasing of housing, so that more opportunities will be created for their development and accomplishment. We sincerely hope that all of Hong Kong's young people will devote themselves to building Hong Kong into a better home, writing a rewarding chapter of their life with impassioned youth.

As a Chinese poem goes, "I would like to borrow a pair of wings from the crane to soar up to the sky." China's national rejuvenation has become a historical inevitability, and the successful practice of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong is an important part of this historic process. We firmly believe that, with the strong backing of the motherland and the solid guarantee provided by "one country, two systems," Hong Kong will surely create a splendid feat on the journey ahead toward the second centenary goal of building China into a modern socialist country in all respects, and will share the glory of the Chinese nation's rejuvenation together with people in the rest of the country. 

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Is Xi Jinping’s China on a path to war?

Over the past few decades, China has solidified its status as an economic superpower. But the country’s economic boom coupled with its increased military might has increased tensions in the region, including with Taiwan, where fears are mounting over a possible Chinese invasion.

Meanwhile, at home, China’s human rights record remains under the spotlight with severe curtailments on free speech and a continued hardline policy on the country’s Uighur community.

So what lies ahead?

Mehdi Hasan goes head-to-head with Victor Gao, the former translator for Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and vice president of the Center for China and Globalization, on President Xi Jinping’s rule, China’s foreign policy and its clampdown on dissent.

Joining the discussion are:

Rayhan Asat – international human rights lawyer of Uighur descent and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council

Stephen Chan – professor of world politics at the University of London, School of African and Oriental Studies

Martin Jacques – author of When China Rules the World and visiting professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing

• President Xi on CPC's landmark reform resolution

Editor's note: The Communist Party of China (CPC) has unveiled a comprehensive set of reforms in a document adopted at the third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee that concluded on July 18. The resolution on further deepening reform comprehensively to advance Chinese modernization details meticulously crafted reform plans that will have a profound impact on the future of the world's second-largest economy. In this review, China.org.cn highlights President Xi Jinping's key quotes from his explanation of the resolution.

• China.org.cn reviews President Xi Jinping's key quotes from his explanation of the CPC Central Committee on Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernization.

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BEIJING, Oct. 18 -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday delivered a keynote speech at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Building an Open, Inclusive and Interconnected World For Common Development

Keynote Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

At the Opening Ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

October 18, 2023

Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government,

Heads of International Organizations,

Representatives of Various Countries,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, we are meeting here for the opening ceremony of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF). On behalf of the Chinese government and Chinese people and in my own name, I wish to extend a very warm welcome to you all!

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) I proposed. The BRI, drawing inspiration from the ancient Silk Road and focusing on enhancing connectivity, aims to enhance policy, infrastructure, trade, financial and people-to-people connectivity, inject new impetus into the global economy, create new opportunities for global development, and build a new platform for international economic cooperation.

Over these 10 years, we have stayed committed to this founding mission. Thanks to our joint efforts, Belt and Road international cooperation has gotten off the ground, grown rapidly and produced fruitful outcomes.

Belt and Road cooperation has extended from the Eurasian continent to Africa and Latin America. More than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation documents. We have held two sessions of the BRF before, and have established over 20 specialized multilateral cooperation platforms under the BRI.

Belt and Road cooperation has progressed from "sketching the outline" to "filling in the details," and blueprints have been turned into real projects. A large number of signature projects and "small yet smart" people-centered programs have been launched.

Belt and Road cooperation has expanded from physical connectivity to institutional connectivity. Important guiding principles for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation have been laid down, which include the principle of "planning together, building together, and benefiting together," the philosophy of open, green and clean cooperation, and the goal of pursuing high-standard, people-centered and sustainable cooperation.

Over these 10 years, we have endeavored to build a global network of connectivity consisting of economic corridors, international transportation routes and information highway as well as railways, roads, airports, ports, pipelines and power grids. Covering the land, the ocean, the sky and the Internet, this network has boosted the flow of goods, capital, technologies and human resources among countries involved and injected fresh vitality into the millennia-old Silk Road in the new era.

Trains speeding along rail tracks, automobiles running on roads, flights connecting different countries, cargo ships breaking waves, and e-commerce bringing so much convenience to people -- they have all become symbols of international trade in the new era, just like camel caravans and the sailing ships were for the past age.

Hydro, wind and solar energy based power plants, oil and gas pipelines, and the increasingly smart and interconnected power transmission networks are removing the development bottleneck caused by energy shortage and fulfilling the dream of developing countries to achieve green and low-carbon development. These energy projects have become the oasis and lighthouse for sustainable development in the new era.

Brand new airports and harbors, smooth roads, and newly built industrial parks for business cooperation have created new economic corridors and new growth drivers, and have become the trading routes and staging posts of the new era.

Rich and colorful cultural years, art festivals, expos and exhibitions, Luban Workshops, people-to-people exchange programs like the Silk Road Community Building Initiative and the Brightness Action program, and deepening exchanges between non-governmental organizations, think tanks, media organizations, and the youth -- all these flourishing activities have composed a symphony of friendship in the new era.

When COVID-19 struck, the Belt and Road became a life-saving road. China provided more than 10 billion masks and 2.3 billion doses of vaccines to other countries and jointly produced vaccines with over 20 countries, making a special contribution to BRI partners' efforts in fighting COVID-19. And China also received valuable support from more than 70 countries when it was hit hard by the pandemic.

Belt and Road cooperation is based on the principle of "planning together, building together, and benefiting together." It transcends differences between civilizations, cultures, social systems, and stages of development. It has opened up a new path for exchanges among countries, and established a new framework for international cooperation. Indeed, the BRI represents humanity's joint pursuit of development for all.

Our achievements in the past decade are truly remarkable, and there is so much we can draw from them.

We have learned that humankind is a community with a shared future. China can only do well when the world is doing well. When China does well, the world will get even better. Through Belt and Road cooperation, China is opening its door even wider to the world, with its inland regions turning from "fullbacks" into "forwards," and coastal regions scaling new heights in their opening-up. China's market has become even more closely integrated with the global market. China has become a main trading partner of more than 140 countries and territories and a primary source of investment for more countries. Both Chinese investment overseas and foreign investment in China have boosted friendship, cooperation, confidence and hope.

We have learned that win-win cooperation is the sure way to success in launching major initiatives that benefit all. When countries embrace cooperation and act in concert, a deep chasm can be turned into a thoroughfare, land-locked countries can become land-linked, and a place of underdevelopment can be transformed into a land of prosperity. Countries taking the lead in economic development should give a hand to their partners who are yet to catch up. We should all treat each other as friends and partners, respect and support each other, and help each other succeed. As the saying goes, when you give roses to others, their fragrance lingers on your hand. In other words, helping others is also helping oneself. Viewing others' development as a threat or taking economic interdependence as a risk will not make one's own life better or speed up one's development.

We have learned that the Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is the most important source of strength for Belt and Road cooperation. I once said that the pioneers of the ancient silk routes won their place in history not as conquerors with warships, guns, horses or swords. Rather, they are remembered as friendly emissaries leading camel caravans and sailing ships loaded with goods. Belt and Road cooperation is based on the belief that flame runs high when everyone adds wood to the fire and that mutual support can get us far. Such cooperation seeks to deliver a good life not only to people of just one country, but to people in other countries as well. It promotes connectivity, mutual benefit, common development, cooperation and win-win outcomes. Ideological confrontation, geopolitical rivalry and bloc politics are not a choice for us. What we stand against are unilateral sanctions, economic coercion and decoupling and supply chain disruption.

What has been achieved in the past 10 years demonstrates that Belt and Road cooperation is on the right side of history. It represents the advancing of our times, and it is the right path forward. We need to remain clear-eyed and undisturbed in a volatile world, and we need to be keenly aware of our responsibility for history, for the people and for the world. We should jointly address various global risks and challenges, and deliver a bright future of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit for future generations.

Changes of the world, of our times, and of historical significance are unfolding like never before. China is endeavoring to build itself into a stronger country and rejuvenate the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone, but for all developing countries through our joint efforts. Global modernization should be pursued to enhance peaceful development and mutually beneficial cooperation and bring prosperity to all. On our way forward, we will encounter both headwinds and tailwinds. We need to stay focused on our goal, take results-oriented actions, persevere, and keep moving forward until our goal is met. China will work with all parties involved to deepen Belt and Road partnerships of cooperation, usher this cooperation into a new stage of high-quality development, and make relentless efforts to achieve modernization for all countries.

Now, I wish to announce eight major steps China will take to support our joint pursuit of high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

First, building a multidimensional Belt and Road connectivity network. China will speed up high-quality development of the China-Europe Railway Express, participate in the trans-Caspian international transportation corridor, host the China-Europe Railway Express Cooperation Forum, and make joint efforts to build a new logistics corridor across the Eurasian continent linked by direct railway and road transportation. We will vigorously integrate ports, shipping and trading services under the "Silk Road Maritime," and accelerate the building of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor and the Air Silk Road.

Second, supporting an open world economy. China will establish pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, enter into free trade agreements and investment protection treaties with more countries. We will remove all restrictions on foreign investment access in the manufacturing sector. In light of international high-standard economic and trade rules, we will further advance high-standard opening up in cross-border service trade and investment, expand market access for digital and other products, and deepen reform in areas including the state-owned enterprises, digital economy, intellectual property and government procurement. China will hold the Global Digital Trade Expo annually. In the next five years (2024-2028), China's total trade in goods and services is expected to exceed USD 32 trillion and USD 5 trillion respectively.

Third, carrying out practical cooperation. China will promote both signature projects and "small yet smart" livelihood programs. The China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China will each set up a RMB 350 billion financing window. An additional RMB 80 billion will be injected into the Silk Road Fund. Together, they will support BRI projects on the basis of market and business operation. Cooperation agreements worth USD 97.2 billion have been concluded at the CEO Conference held during this Forum. China will carry out 1,000 small-scale livelihood assistance projects, and enhance vocational education cooperation through Luban Workshops and other initiatives. We will also step up joint efforts to ensure the safety of BRI projects and personnel.

Fourth, promoting green development. China will continue to deepen cooperation in areas such as green infrastructure, green energy and green transportation, and step up support for the BRI International Green Development Coalition. China will continue to hold the BRI Green Innovation Conference, and establish dialogue and exchange mechanisms for the solar industry and a network of experts on green and low-carbon development. China will implement the Green Investment Principles for the Belt and Road, and provide 100,000 training opportunities for partner countries by 2030.

Fifth, advancing scientific and technological innovation. China will continue to implement the Belt and Road Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation Action Plan, hold the first Belt and Road Conference on Science and Technology Exchange, increase the number of joint laboratories built with other parties to 100 in the next five years, and support young scientists from other countries to work on short-term programs in China. At this Forum, China will put forward the Global Initiative for Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance. We stand ready to increase exchanges and dialogue with other countries and jointly promote the sound, orderly and secure AI development in the world.

Sixth, supporting people-to-people exchanges. China will host the Liangzhu Forum to enhance dialogue on civilizations with BRI partner countries. In addition to the Silk Road International League of Theaters, the Silk Road International Arts Festival, the International Alliance of Museums of the Silk Road, the Silk Road International Alliance of Art Museums, and the Silk Road International Library Alliance that have been set up, China has also launched the International Tourism Alliance of Silk Road Cities. And we will continue with the Chinese government scholarship Silk Road Program.

Seventh, promoting integrity-based Belt and Road cooperation. Together with its cooperation partners, China will release the Achievements and Prospects of Belt and Road Integrity Building and the High-Level Principles on Belt and Road Integrity Building, and establish the Integrity and Compliance Evaluation System for Companies Involved in Belt and Road Cooperation. We will also work with international organizations to carry out research and training on promoting integrity in Belt and Road cooperation.

Eighth, strengthening institutional building for international Belt and Road cooperation. China will work with its BRI partner countries to strengthen the building of multilateral cooperation platforms covering energy, taxation, finance, green development, disaster reduction, anti-corruption, think tank, media, culture and other fields. China will continue to host the BRF and establish a secretariat for the Forum.

The past decade has been a journey of dedicated cooperation and fruitful outcomes. Belt and Road cooperation was proposed by China, but its benefits and opportunities are for the world to share. Let us meet the expectations of the people, assume responsibilities entrusted on us by history, closely follow the trend of the times, and press ahead with energy and enterprise. Let us deepen Belt and Road international cooperation, and bring Belt and Road cooperation to a new stage of higher-quality and higher-level development. Let us advance modernization of all countries, build an open, inclusive and interconnected world for common development, and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.

I wish the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation a full success!

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Blow for Xi as investors scramble to quit China

Low domestic demand and heightened geopolitical tensions are taking a toll on Beijing

Foreign investors have pulled a record £12bn out of China in an economic blow for President Xi Jinping.

Fears over the future of the world’s second largest economy meant foreign investors withdrew $14.8bn (£11.6bn) between April and June, data from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange shows.

It was only the second time more foreign money has been withdrawn from China than invested since records began in 1998, and was a massive swing from the net $10bn pumped into the country during the first three months of the year.

It came as the Saudi-led Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cut its forecast for oil demand growth, citing concerns over the Chinese economy.

Geopolitical tensions, an ailing domestic economy , a slump in the value of the renminbi and low interest rates have all become major deterrents to the market, economists warned, amid a race to sell assets and divert profits overseas.

Foreign direct investment in China last turned negative in the autumn of 2023, when investors pulled out $12bn. Chinese companies also invested a record $71bn overseas between April and June, up 80pc year on year. 

Combined, this meant China suffered a record net outflow of $86bn in direct investment. 

Duncan Wrigley, chief China economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “I think what is going on is that foreign investors are selling assets and exiting China or pulling profits out of China.”

Western businesses exporting to the US have been “nearshoring” production to friendlier states such as Vietnam and Mexico in order to reduce risks to their supply chains.

Mr Wrigley said: “Companies who have got export factories are worried about geopolitical tensions with the US.”

On top of this, domestic consumer demand in China has been anaemic since the country reopened after lockdown, as the nation’s property crisis has eroded people’s wealth and hit confidence.

Mr Wrigley said: “Consumers generally have been downgrading their purchases by buying cheaper stuff. 

“There has been a limited return of spending in some areas like tourism and there is just not as much appetite for buying big items as before.”

While other major economies have been raising interest rates to tackle runaway inflation, Beijing has been cutting rates in an attempt to boost the economy.

Max Zenglein, chief economist at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, said China is no longer an attractive place for investors.

The renminbi is at historical lows against the US dollar and China has been cutting interest rates, lowering the prospect of returns for cash investors.

Mr Zenglein said: “The pipeline of new investments into China is drying up.

“The Chinese government is struggling to build confidence overall in the economy, and there is an expectation that geopolitical frictions are going to rise. There might be collateral damage in response to, for example, measures like the EU imposing tariffs.”

The European Union will vote at the end of October on whether to introduce new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles .

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Full text of Xi's speech at Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States

SAN FRANCISCO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech here Wednesday at Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States.

The following is the full text of the speech:

Galvanizing Our Peoples into a Strong Force For the Cause of China-U.S. Friendship

Speech by H.E. Xi Jinping

President of the People's Republic of China

At Welcome Dinner by Friendly Organizations in the United States

San Francisco, November 15, 2023

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to meet with you, friends from across the American society, in San Francisco to renew our friendship and strengthen our bond. My first visit to the United States in 1985 started from San Francisco, which formed my first impression of this country. Today I still keep a photo of me in front of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Before going further, I wish to express my sincere thanks to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business Council, the Asia Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other friendly organizations for hosting this event. I also want to express my warm greetings to all American friends who have long committed to growing China-U.S. relations and my best wishes to the friendly American people.

San Francisco has borne witness to exchanges between the Chinese and American peoples for over a century. A hundred and fifty-eight years ago, a large number of Chinese workers came all the way to the United States to build the first transcontinental railroad, and established in San Francisco the oldest Chinatown in the Western Hemisphere. From here, China and the United States have made many achievements--USD 760 billion of annual bilateral trade and over USD 260 billion of two-way investment, 284 pairs of sister provinces/states and sister cities, and over 300 scheduled flights every week and over five million travels every year at peak time. These extraordinary accomplishments were made jointly by our peoples accounting for nearly one quarter of the global population.

San Francisco has also borne witness to the efforts by China and the United States in building a better world. Seventy-eight years ago, after jointly defeating fascism and militarism, our two countries initiated together with others the San Francisco Conference, which helped found the United Nations, and China was the first country to sign the U.N. Charter. Starting from San Francisco, the postwar international order was established. Over 100 countries have gained independence one after another. Several billion people have eventually shaken off poverty. The forces for world peace, development and progress have grown stronger. This has been the main fruit jointly achieved by people of all countries and the international community.

The foundation of China-U.S. relations was laid by our peoples. During World War II, our two countries fought side by side for peace and justice. Headed by General Claire Lee Chennault, a group of American volunteers, known as the Flying Tigers, went to the battlefield in China. They not only engaged in direct combats fighting Japanese aggressors, but also created "The Hump" airlift to transport much-needed supplies to China. More than 1,000 Chinese and American airmen lost their lives on this air route. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States sent 16 B-25 bombers on an air raid to Japan in 1942. Running low on fuel after completing their mission, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle and his fellow pilots parachuted in China. They were rescued by Chinese troops and local civilians. But some 250,000 civilian Chinese were killed by Japanese aggressors in retaliation.

The Chinese people never forget the Flying Tigers. We built a Flying Tigers museum in Chongqing, and invited over 1,000 Flying Tigers veterans and their families to visit China. I have kept in touch with some of them through letters. Most recently, 103-year-old Harry Moyer and 98-year-old Mel McMullen, both Flying Tigers veterans, went back to China. They visited the Great Wall, and were warmly received by the Chinese people.

The American people, on their part, always remember the Chinese who risked their lives to save American pilots. Offspring of those American pilots often visit the Doolittle Raid Memorial Hall in Quzhou of Zhejiang Province to pay tribute to the Chinese people for their heroic and valorous efforts. These stories fill me with firm confidence that the friendship between our two peoples, which has stood the test of blood and fire, will be passed on from generation to generation.

The door of China-U.S. relations was opened by our peoples. For 22 years, there were estrangement and antagonism between our two countries. But the trend of the times brought us together, converging interests enabled us to rise above differences, and the people's longing broke the ice between the two countries. In 1971, the U.S. table tennis team visited Beijing--a small ball moved the globe. Not long after that, Mr. Mike Mansfield led the first U.S. Congressional delegation to China. This was followed by the first governors' delegation including Iowa Governor Robert Ray and then many business delegations, forming waves of friendly exchanges.

This year, after the world emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic, I have respectively met in Beijing with Dr. Henry Kissinger, Mr. Bill Gates, Senator Chuck Schumer and his Senate colleagues, and Governor Gavin Newsom. I told them that the hope of the China-U.S. relationship lies in the people, its foundation is in our societies, its future depends on the youth, and its vitality comes from exchanges at subnational levels. I welcome more U.S. governors, Congressional members, and people from all walks of life to visit China.

The stories of China-U.S. relations are written by our peoples. During my first visit to the United States, I stayed at the Dvorchaks in Iowa. I still remember their address--2911 Bonnie Drive. That was my first face-to-face contact with the Americans. The days I spent with them are unforgettable. For me, they represent America. I have found that although our two countries are different in history, culture and social system and have embarked on different development paths, our two peoples are both kind, friendly, hardworking and down-to-earth. We both love our countries, our families and our lives, and we both are friendly toward each other and are interested in each other. It is the convergence of many streams of goodwill and friendship that has created a strong current surging across the vast Pacific Ocean; it is the reaching out to each other by our peoples that has time and again brought China-U.S. relations from a low ebb back onto the right track. I am convinced that once opened, the door of China-U.S. relations cannot be shut again. Once started, the cause of China-U.S. friendship cannot be derailed halfway. The tree of our peoples' friendship has grown tall and strong; and it can surely withstand the assault of any wind or storm.

The future of China-U.S. relations will be created by our peoples. The more difficulties there are, the greater the need for us to forge a closer bond between our peoples and to open our hearts to each other, and more people need to speak up for the relationship. We should build more bridges and pave more roads for people-to-people interactions. We must not erect barriers or create a chilling effect.

Today, President Biden and I reached important consensus. Our two countries will roll out more measures to facilitate travels and promote people-to-people exchanges, including increasing direct passenger flights, holding a high-level dialogue on tourism, and streamlining visa application procedures. We hope that our two peoples will make more visits, contacts and exchanges and write new stories of friendship in the new era. I also hope that California and San Francisco will continue to take the lead on the journey of growing China-U.S. friendship!

We are in an era of challenges and changes. It is also an era of hope. The world needs China and the United States to work together for a better future. We, the largest developing country and the largest developed country, must handle our relations well. In a world of changes and chaos, it is ever more important for us to have the mind, assume the vision, shoulder the responsibility, and play the role that come along with our status as major countries.

I have always had one question on my mind: How to steer the giant ship of China-U.S. relations clear of hidden rocks and shoals, navigate it through storms and waves without getting disoriented, losing speed or even having a collision?

In this respect, the number one question for us is: are we adversaries, or partners? This is the fundamental and overarching issue. The logic is quite simple. If one sees the other side as a primary competitor, the most consequential geopolitical challenge and a pacing threat, it will only lead to misinformed policy making, misguided actions, and unwanted results. China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States. The fundamental principles that we follow in handling China-U.S. relations are mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.

Just as mutual respect is a basic code of behavior for individuals, it is fundamental for China-U.S. relations. The United States is unique in its history, culture and geographical position, which have shaped its distinct development path and social system. We fully respect all this. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been found under the guidance of the theory of scientific socialism, and is rooted in the tradition of the Chinese civilization with an uninterrupted history of more than 5,000 years. We are proud of our choice, just as you are proud of yours. Our paths are different, but both are the choice by our peoples, and both lead to the realization of the common values of humanity. They should be both respected.

Peaceful coexistence is a basic norm for international relations, and is even more of a baseline that China and the United States should hold on to as two major countries. It is wrong to view China, which is committed to peaceful development, as a threat and thus play a zero-sum game against it. China never bets against the United States, and never interferes in its internal affairs. China has no intention to challenge the United States or to unseat it. Instead, we will be glad to see a confident, open, ever-growing and prosperous United States. Likewise, the United States should not bet against China, or interfere in China's internal affairs. It should instead welcome a peaceful, stable and prosperous China.

Win-win cooperation is the trend of the times, and it is also an inherent property of China-U.S. relations. China is pursuing high-quality development, and the United States is revitalizing its economy. There is plenty of room for our cooperation, and we are fully able to help each other succeed and achieve win-win outcomes.

The Belt and Road Initiative as well as the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI) and the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) proposed by China are open to all countries at all times including the United States. China is also ready to participate in U.S.-proposed multilateral cooperation initiatives. This morning, President Biden and I agreed to promote dialogue and cooperation, in the spirit of mutual respect, in areas including diplomacy, economy and trade, people-to-people exchange, education, science and technology, agriculture, military, law enforcement, and artificial intelligence. We agreed to make the cooperation list longer and the pie of cooperation bigger. I would like to let you know that China sympathizes deeply with the American people, especially the young, for the sufferings that Fentanyl has inflicted upon them. President Biden and I have agreed to set up a working group on counternarcotics to further our cooperation and help the United States tackle drug abuse. I also wish to announce here that to increase exchanges between our peoples, especially between the youth, China is ready to invite 50,000 young Americans to China on exchange and study programs in the next five years.

Recently, the three pandas at Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington D.C. have returned to China. I was told that many American people, especially children, were really reluctant to say goodbye to the pandas, and went to the zoo to see them off. I also learned that the San Diego Zoo and the Californians very much look forward to welcoming pandas back. Pandas have long been envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples. We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples.

China is the largest developing country in the world. The Chinese people long for better jobs, better lives, and better education for their children. It is what the 1.4 billion Chinese hold dear to their hearts. The Communist Party of China (CPC) is committed to working for the people, and our people's expectation for a better life is our goal. This means we must work hard to secure their support. Thanks to a century of exploration and struggle, we have found the development path that suits us. We are now advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts by pursuing Chinese modernization.

We are committed to striving in unity to achieve modernization for all Chinese. A large population is a fundamental aspect of China's reality. Our achievements, however great, would be very small when divided by 1.4 billion. But a problem, however small, would be huge when multiplied by 1.4 billion. This is a unique challenge for a country of our size. In the meantime, big also means strength. The leadership of the CPC, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the endorsement and support of the people are our greatest strengths. China is both a super-large economy and a super-large market. Not long ago the sixth China International Import Expo was held, attracting over 3,400 business exhibitors from 128 countries including the United States. The exhibition area of American companies has been the largest for six consecutive years at the Expo. Modernization for 1.4 billion Chinese is a huge opportunity that China provides to the world.

We are committed to prosperity for all to deliver a better life for each and every Chinese. To eliminate poverty is the millennia-old dream of the Chinese nation, and prosperity for all is the longing of all Chinese. Before I turned 16, I was in a village in northern Shaanxi Province, where I lived and farmed with villagers, and I knew about their worries and needs. Now half a century on, I always feel confident and strong when staying with the people. Serving the people selflessly and living up to their expectations is my lifelong commitment. When I became General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and President of the People's Republic of China, 100 million people were still living below the poverty line set by the United Nations. Thanks to eight years of tenacious efforts, we lifted them all out of poverty. We realized the poverty reduction goal of the U.N. 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development 10 years ahead of schedule. In the process, over 1,800 CPC members lost their lives in the line of duty.

Our goal is not to have just a few wealthy people, but to realize common prosperity for all. Employment, education, medical services, child care, elderly care, housing, the environment and the like are real issues important to people's daily life and close to their heart. They are being steadily integrated into our top-level plans for national development, thus ever increasing the sense of fulfillment, happiness and security of our people. We will continue to promote high-quality development and deliver the benefits of modernization to all. This is the CPC's founding mission and the pledge we have made to the people. It will surely be realized with the support of the people.

We are committed to well-rounded development to achieve both material and cultural-ethical advancement for the people. Our forefathers observed that "When people are well-fed and well-clad, they will have a keen sense of honor and shame." Material shortage is not socialism, nor is cultural-ethical impoverishment. Chinese modernization is people-centered. An important goal of Chinese modernization is to continue increasing the country's economic strength and improving the people's living standards, and at the same time, enriching the people's cultural lives, enhancing civility throughout society and promoting well-rounded development of the person. The purpose of the Global Civilization Initiative I proposed is to urge the international community to address the imbalance between material and cultural advancement and jointly promote continued progress of human civilization.

We are committed to sustainable development to achieve harmony between man and nature. The belief that humans are an integral part of nature and need to follow nature's course is a distinctive feature of traditional Chinese culture. We live in the same global village, and we possibly won't find another inhabitable planet in our lifetime. As an English saying goes, "We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." When I was Governor of Fujian Province in 2002, I called for turning Fujian into the first ecological province in China. Later when I worked in Zhejiang Province in 2005, I said that clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver. Today, this view has become a consensus of all the Chinese people. China now has close to half of the world's installed photovoltaic capacity. Over half of the world's new energy vehicles run on roads in China, and China contributes one-fourth of increased area of afforestation in the world. We will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. We have made the pledge, and we will honor it.

We are committed to peaceful development to build a community with a shared future for mankind. Peace, amity and harmony are values embedded in Chinese civilization. Aggression and expansion are not in our genes. The Chinese people have bitter and deep memories of the turmoils and sufferings inflicted upon them in modern times. I often say that what the Chinese people oppose is war, what they want is stability, and what they hope for is enduring world peace. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be achieved without a peaceful and stable international environment. In pursuing modernization, we will never revert to the beaten path of war, colonization, plundering or coercion.

Throughout the 70 years and more since the founding of the People's Republic, China has not provoked a conflict or war, or occupied a single inch of foreign land. China is the only major country that has written peaceful development into the Constitution of the country and the Constitution of the governing party, thus making peaceful development a commitment of the nation. It benefits from and safeguards the current international order. We remain firm in safeguarding the international system with the U.N. at its core, the international order underpinned by international law, and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the U.N. Charter. Whatever stage of development it may reach, China will never pursue hegemony or expansion, and will never impose its will on others. China does not seek spheres of influence, and will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone. China will remain committed to dialogue and oppose confrontation, and build partnerships instead of alliances. It will continue to pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. The modernization we are pursuing is not for China alone. We are ready to work with all countries to advance global modernization featuring peaceful development, mutually beneficial cooperation and common prosperity, and to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

The passage of time is like a surging river--much is washed away, but the most valuable stays. No matter how the global landscape evolves, the historical trend of peaceful coexistence between China and the United States will not change. The ultimate wish of our two peoples for exchanges and cooperation will not change. The expectations of the whole world for a steadily growing China-U.S. relationship will not change. For any great cause to succeed, it must take root in the people, gain strength from the people, and be accomplished by the people. Growing China-U.S. friendship is such a great cause. Let us galvanize the Chinese and American peoples into a strong force to renew China-U.S. friendship, advance China-U.S. relations, and make even greater contributions to world peace and development!

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Qiushi Newsletter, a bimonthly on China's governance and perspectives, targets at online readers. With important articles selected or translated from the Chinese or English versions of Qiushi Journal , the Newsletter gives details of the CPC's theories, policies, and practical experience in national governance for domestic and foreign readers.

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Why Xi Jinping is resurrecting Mao-era propaganda methods

Our weekly podcast on china. this week, we travel to inner mongolia to examine the return of ulan muqir troupes.

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S ince taking power in 2012, Xi Jinping has been working to restore the Chinese Communist Party’s grassroots influence and to grow its presence in everyday life. In Inner Mongolia, he has revived a Mao-era propaganda tool: Ulan Muqir troupes . Founded in 1957, their name means “Red Bud” in Mongolian, and early teams would carry news and party ideology across the region, through song and dance.

David Rennie, The Economist ’s Beijing bureau chief, and Alice Su, our senior China correspondent, examine the recent revival of these troupes and ask: why is Xi Jinping reintroducing Mao-era propaganda methods in Inner Mongolia—and are they effective?

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