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PekingXi Jinping has openly threatened Taiwan with a military attack
China’s head of state and party leader has opened the Congress of the Communist Party in Beijing. 2300 delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People.
2,300 delegates have gathered in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
AFP/Noel Celis
Xi Jinping has threatened Taiwan with military action.
AFP/Noel Celis
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China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping opened the congress of the Communist Party with a speech on Sunday.
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He has warned of “potential dangers” and “difficult times”.
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Xi Jinping wants to be elected by the 2,300 delegates for another five years.
China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping Taiwan threatened with military action. China is striving for peaceful “unification”, “but we will never commit ourselves to giving up the use of force,” said the President on Sunday at the start of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, which takes place only every five years.
The Chinese leadership will retain the “option to take all necessary measures”. These were aimed at foreign interference and a “small number” of pro-independence forces, “not at the compatriots in Taiwan,” Xi Jinping pointed out. “The complete reunification of the fatherland must be achieved and can be achieved.” The communist leadership sees the democratic island republic only as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. On the other hand, Taiwan, which has a population of 23 million, has long considered itself independent.
Xi Jinping warns of “difficult times”
Xi Jinping has warned of “potential dangers” and difficult times. In a keynote address to around 2,300 delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, the President called on Sunday to “prepare for the worst cases”. “Therefore prepare yourself and be prepared to withstand strong winds, heavy seas and even dangerous storms.”
In the speech, which was heavily ideological, China’s president called for resolutely following his party leadership in order to build a “modern socialist country”. The next five years are crucial for this. Internationally, the party leader saw “immense risks and challenges” as well as “global changes that have not been seen in a century”.
China sticks to zero-Covid strategy
He praised the “necessary” strictness Null-Covid-Strategie in China, which has brought “enormous, encouraging achievements” both in the fight against the pandemic and in economic development. As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, China continues to pursue a zero-tolerance goal — with lockdowns, mass testing, quarantines and contact tracing slowing the economy.
The focus of the party congress, which takes place only every five years, is on Xi Jinping’s expansion of power and his re-election for a third term. The delegates should anchor his ideology even more deeply as a guideline in the party’s constitution and appoint a new central committee.
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(DPA/chk)