Xi Jinping sees China as capable of “shaping the world”

Beijing. This is the week of the rise of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Yesterday he threatened to apply force, if required, to reintegrate Taiwan, and defended his policy of fighting Covid-19 and corruption, at the opening of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of China (PCC), in the one who should receive a historic third term in power.

If all goes as planned, the 69-year-old should be ratified as CCP general secretary within a week, a prelude to his re-election next year as China’s president, and cement himself as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong.

Acclaimed upon his arrival, Xi gave a speech lasting more than an hour and a half in which he praised his management of the pandemic, with a restrictive “zero covid” policy still in force despite its economic impact.

He also defended his handling of two very sensitive issues for Beijing: the pro-democracy protests and subsequent repression in Hong Kong, which in his opinion went “from chaos to governance,” and the tensions over Taiwan.

Xi denounced the interference of “external forces” in this island with an autonomous government and warned that China “will never give up the use of force” to reunify it.

“We will try to seek the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the greatest efforts, but we will never commit ourselves to abandoning the use of force,” he assured.

To applause, Xi also stressed that “China’s international influence, attractiveness and ability to shape the world have increased significantly.”

“Zero covid”

The quinquennial congress takes place in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, amid strong security measures and under a strict “zero covid” protocol.

The maintenance or not of this policy was precisely one of the questions that surrounded the conclave in the face of the daily havoc and the economic problems caused.

However, Xi strongly defended this strategy, which he said put “the people and their lives first.”

Fatigue is beginning to take its toll on some sectors, and this week the unease surfaced with an unusual protest in the capital, in which a man hung two banners critical of the president on a bridge. In one he called for the overthrow of “traitor dictator Xi Jinping.”

In his speech, Xi also praised his anti-corruption campaign, seen by some critics as a tool to eliminate internal rivals and consolidate his power.