Xi said Monday that “reunification” with Taiwan was “essential to China’s revitalization,” speaking at the closing session of the National People’s Congress, the country’s most important annual political event.
Xi Jinping called reunification “a common pursuit of the Chinese nation” and stressed the need for China to “oppose external forces” and “separatists”.
The president, who was re-elected to an unprecedented third presidential term (2023-2028) on Friday, called for defense of the “one China principle” and “compliance with the ‘1992 consensus'” in which Taipei and Beijing recognize that there is only one China, although they have different views on what the “true” is.
Xi also stressed the need to “promote the peaceful development of relations in the Taiwan Strait” after a year of high tensions between Beijing and Taipei, during a visit to the island by the then Speaker of the US House of Representatives , Nancy Pelosi.
The island of Taiwan has been autonomously governed under the official name of the Republic of China since 1949, when KMT nationalists took refuge there after losing the civil war to the communists, with Beijing claiming sovereignty over the territory.
Xi emphasizes security, technological self-sufficiency at the end of the legislature
Xi Jinping stressed the need to strengthen national security and promote “technological self-sufficiency”.
“Security is the basis of development,” said the Chinese leader in the closing address of the plenary session of the National People’s Congress. “Stability is a prerequisite for prosperity,” Xi added, before nearly 3,000 delegates gathered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Analysts point to the pinnacle of an era begun by Deng Xiaoping, the main architect of the economic reforms that opened China to the world in the 1980s. “Security and control”, to the detriment of economic development, now seem to be the guiding principle to Beijing’s policy decisions at a time of rising tensions with the United States and several neighboring countries, caused by territorial, commercial and technological disputes.
It is necessary “to fully promote and proselytize the modernization of Defense and Armed Forces [o exército] into a Great Steel Wall capable of effectively protecting China’s sovereignty, security and development interests,” said Xi Jinping.
the Chinese leader said the country “should work towards greater technological self-sufficiency” after the US, in coordination with other countries, increased restrictions on supplying China with essential components for high technology production.
“China must create a new development model” and “promote industrial transformation,” Xi said. The Chinese leader called for “implementing the strategy of reviving China through science and technology” and “promoting the coordination of urban and rural development”.
Last week, Beijing announced a reform of its Ministry of Science and Technology aimed at “improving efficiency and technological self-sufficiency”, aimed at countering “external containment”. The reformulated body will transfer functions such as formulating technology policies for the agricultural sector to other ministries to “play a greater role” in “achievement of technological progress,” according to the official press.
Source: DN
