Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday said the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) should be built into “a great wall of steel” to defend the country’s sovereignty in his first speech after securing a norm-breaking third term as president last week and emerging as China’s most powerful leader in generations.
Speaking to the nearly 3,000 delegates at the closing session of China’s rubber-stamp parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), Xi “demanded” efforts to advance the “modernisation of national defence and armed forces on all fronts and build the people’s armed forces into a ‘Great Wall of steel’ that is capable of effectively safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests”.
Xi’s calls to modernise and strengthen the armed forces comes in the backdrop the ongoing military tension with India along its western border, or the Line of Actual Control, and rising tension with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as a breakaway region.
Several rounds of diplomatic and military talks between India and China have failed to completely resolve the military tension, plunging ties to its lowest in decades.
Xi emphasised the need to “resolutely” opposing external interference and “Taiwan independence” separatist activities, and firmly advancing the process of national reunification.
Xi said Beijing will actively pursue a peaceful solution to Taiwan issue but will ‘unwaveringly push forward the process of reunification of the motherland’.
On Friday, Xi, 69, secured his position as China’s most powerful leader since the iconic Mao Zedong becoming president for the third term at choreographed “election” where there was no other candidate.
During the annual session, Xi further consolidated his grip on power by carefully choosing and placing his allies in key positions including that of the premier’s, a post now occupied by Li Qiang, widely considered his acolyte.
China’s new Premier Li Qiang on Monday said that achieving 5% growth for 2023 would not be “easy” to achieve but attempted to boost the tattered private sector better environment.
“I’m afraid that reaching our growth target of around 5% will be no easy task, and will require that we redouble our efforts,” Li said at hist first press conference as Premier, which is annually held to mark the end of the NPC session.
Li said the modest figure of 5% “has been determined after a comprehensive consideration of various factors.”
He warned of “many new challenges” to growth, but added that most people “don’t fix their sights every day” on the country’s economic indicators.
On the private sector economy, he said: “Indeed, last year, there were some inappropriate discussions about private entrepreneurs, which made them feel frustrated. As a matter of fact, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee has clear policies and principles regarding the development of the private economy.”
“The second point I want to make is that private entrepreneurs or enterprises will enjoy a better environment and broader space for development,” Li added.
“China’s actual use of foreign capital hit a historic new high last year to more than $189 billion, which was $50 billion higher than that of three years ago or before the pandemic, demonstrating that China remains a very popular destination for foreign investments in the world,” he said, according to official news agency Xinhua.
Li said China expects a record high of 11.58 million college graduates entering the workforce this year, adding that such a large number certainly adds pressure to employment.
“But if we look at it from a development perspective, it is a good thing, because with so many young people entering the workforce, they will inject energy and vitality into our society,” he said, according to the Xinhua report.
