Chinese president xi jinping

BEIJING, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to achieve "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, and did not directly mention the use of force after a week of tensions with the Chinese-claimed island that sparked international concern. Taiwan responded to Xi by calling on Beijing to abandon its coercion, reiterating that only Taiwan's people could decide their future. Democratically ruled Taiwan has come under increased military and political pressure from Beijing to accept its sovereignty, but Taipei has pledged to defend its freedom. Speaking at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, Xi said the Chinese people have a "glorious tradition" of opposing separatism. "Taiwan independence separatism is the biggest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland, and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation," he said on the anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty in 1911. Peaceful "reunification" best meets the overall interests of the Taiwanese people, but China will protect its sovereignty and unity, he added. "No one should underestimate the Chinese people's staunch determination, firm will, and strong ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity," Xi said. "The historical task of the complete reunification of the motherland must be fulfilled, and will definitely be fulfilled." He struck a slightly softer tone than in July, his last major speech mentioning Taiwan, in which he vo...

Back in March 2018, I found my mind wandering inside Beijing’s Great Hall of the People as China’s rubber-stamp parliament voted to remove the two-term presidential limit. Ensconced in the building’s top tier with other journalists and dignitaries straining to hear the proceedings, I stared up at the huge red star ceiling motif that loomed over Chinese Communist Party (CCP) delegates. Nearby, two bored European diplomats gossiped noisily. If we perhaps failed to grasp the magnitude of what was transpiring in that auditorium 4 1⁄2 years ago, it’s only too clear today. The world has since endured a pandemic that sprouted amid official obfuscation in China’s central city of Wuhan and spilled across every continent to claim an estimated 15 million lives. Beijing has led a campaign of incarceration and indoctrination of its Uighur Muslim minority that On Oct. 16, Xi’s coronation as emperor will be complete. The 20th CCP Congress, to be held in that same squat building, will mark the start of his third leadership term, ripping up a long-held convention that Chinese leaders serve only two. It effectively ends the institutionalization of political power around the party that shepherded China’s economic miracle, and instead centers it on a single individual swathed in a cult of personality not seen since Mao Zedong. At the age of 69, Xi becomes China’s most powerful leader in modern history. Read More: The Most Powerful Person in the World Is China’s President Read More: Column: Ho...

Here are six things to know about Xi’s power grab at the mid-October 20th Party Congress — and the country’s complicated trajectory. Beijing’s Communist black box Party Congresses occur every five years and are exemplars of the CCP’s obsessive secrecy. The Chinese public’s awareness of the event is basically limited to its location and whatever hints the CCP opts to dole out via state media in the run-up to the event. This year that includes the disclosure that the Party Congress will likely approve an unspecified Beyond that, the specific agenda is a mystery. The proceedings aren’t open to the public and the results — including the approval of a work report that outlines the Party’s top priority policies for the next five years — often trickle out only weeks after the event. Xi has limited his comments about the upcoming Congress to boilerplate propaganda points. “The 20th CPC National Congress will offer a panoramic prospect of the two-stage strategic plan for China’s drive to build a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi But that pablum is a sign of confidence. Xi’s trip to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan — his first foray out of the country since the pandemic — is a decisive confirmation that he feels no threat from potential Party rivals. “[I]t shows a very high level of confidence that he’s got the [Chinese leadership] situation under control and that he will get his third term,” said Yun Sun, China program director at the Sti...