China’s Xi talks up security as congress reopens

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has called for speeding up building a world-class military, kicked off the Communist Party Congress by focusing on security and reaffirming policy priorities.

Roughly 2,300 delegates from around the country gathered for the event in the Chinese capital Beijing.

Xi described the five years since the last party congress as “extremely uncommon and abnormal”, during a speech that lasted less than two hours.

“We must strengthen our sense of hardship, adhere to the bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, prepare for a rainy day, and be ready to withstand major tests of high winds and high waves,” he said.

Xi called for strengthening the ability to maintain national security, ensuring food and energy supplies, securing supply chains, improving the ability to deal with disasters and protecting personal information.

The biggest applause came when Xi restated opposition to Taiwan independence.

In the full work report, Xi used the terms “security” or “safety” 89 times, up from 55 times in 2017, according to a Reuters count.

“To build a modern socialist country in all respects, we must, first and foremost, pursue high-quality development. Development is our Party’s top priority in governing and rejuvenating China, for without solid material and technological foundations, we cannot hope to build a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi said.

He also said that China is committed to its foreign policy goals of upholding world peace.

“China remains firm in pursuing an independent foreign policy of peace. It has always decided its position and policy on issues based on their own merits, and it has strived to uphold the basic norms governing international relations and to safeguard international fairness and justice,” Xi said.