Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to create a military “great wall of steel” in his first speech of the new presidential term.



CNN

Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged on Monday to strengthen national security and turn the military into a “great wall of steel” in his first unprecedented speech in his third presidential term.

Speaking at the closing of the annual meeting of the Chinese Parliament, Xi Jinping stressed the need for comprehensive modernization of the national defense and armed forces.

“(We must) turn the People’s Liberation Army into a great steel wall that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Xi told nearly 3,000 National People’s Congress (NPC) delegates.

Xi, 69, was unanimously approved The NPC as President of China for another five years in an organized and solemn vote on Friday, making him the longest-serving head of state of Communist China since its founding in 1949.

At the start of his speech on Monday, Xi thanked delegates for his reappointment.

“This is my third time holding the high post of president. People’s trust is the biggest driving force for me to move forward, as well as a big responsibility on my shoulders,” he said.

Like many of his previous speeches, Xi had a nationalist tone, citing the hardships China has endured at the hands of “intimidating foreign powers” in the modern era and noting how the Communist Party has led the country to “erasure national humiliation.”

“The Chinese people have become masters of their own destiny,” he said. “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered into an irreversible historical process.”

According to Xi Jinping, the “essence” of this rejuvenation lies in “national unification”, namely the “reunification” of Taiwan with mainland China.

The Chinese Communist Party considers Taiwan’s self-governing democracy to be part of its territory, despite never having control of it, and refuses to rule out the use of force.

Under Xi, Beijing has stepped up economic, diplomatic and military pressure on the island’s democracy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has not condemned, has also fueled fears that Xi might try to do something similar in the coming years.

“We must… actively promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, resolutely oppose the interference of outside forces and Taiwan’s secessionist activities, and resolutely push forward the national reunification process,” Xi said to loud applause in the Great Hall of the People.

Xi also urged China to better coordinate development and security.

“Security is the basis of development, stability is the precondition for prosperity,” he said.

In his first decade in office, Xi introduced sweeping reforms to the Chinese military to make it a modern fighting force and turned its navy into the largest in the world.

China’s annual military budget will increased by 7.2% to about 1.55 trillion yuan ($224 billion) this year amid rising geopolitical tensions and regional arms race.

He also solidified his control over both the military and civilian branches of government to become the most assertive and dominant Chinese leader of his generation.

The emphasis on strengthening security and military forces comes as China’s relationship with the United States is stuck at its lowest point in decades, and tensions are rising across sectors from trade and technology to geopolitics, especially over the future of Taiwan.

Last week, Xi Jinping, in an unusually blunt statement, accused the US of leading Western countries “containing and suppressing” China and throwing it “unprecedentedly serious challenges.”

New Foreign Minister Xi Qin Gang has warned that if the US does not “put on the brakes,” the two superpowers are bound to slide into “conflict and confrontation.”