Under The Angsana Tree: A China that stands tall in the world

Xi Jinping's 2050 vision

College students wave national flags as they watch the opening of the 19th Communist Party Congress in Huaibei. FOTO: AFP

5 years after he espoused his Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, President Xi Jinping has presented his new 2050 vision for China: a modern socialist country that can stand tall in the world.

In setting the ambitious goal, to be achieved in 2 phases, Mr Xi has shown awareness of the challenges and risks ahead.

"Achieving national rejuvenation will be no walk in the park; it will take more than drum beating & gong clanging to get there," he told more than 2,200 party delegates, retired leaders & non-party guests at the opening of the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 19th national congress yesterday.

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Xi Jinping lays out road map to make China leading global power by 2050

Xi Jinping said China would continue opening its doors to foreign businesses, defend against systemic risks, deepen state-run enterprise reform, strengthen financial sector regulation and better coordinate fiscal and monetary policy. Photo: AFP

President Xi Jinping warned of “severe” challenges while laying out a road map to turn China into a leading global power by 2050, as he kicked off a twice-a-decade party gathering expected to cement his influence into the next decade.

In a speech that ran for more than three hours on Wednesday, Xi declared victory over “many difficult, long overdue problems” since he took power in 2012. He said China would continue opening its doors to foreign businesses, defend against systemic risks, deepen state-run enterprise reform, strengthen financial sector regulation and better coordinate fiscal and monetary policy.

“Right now both China and the world are in the midst of profound and complex changes,” Xi said. “China is still in an important period of strategic opportunity for development. The prospects are bright, but the challenges are severe.”

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China hails era of ‘great rejuvenation’

China's President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song

Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Photo: Reuters/Aly Song

Today the Communist Party of China (CPC) struts into their-twice-a-decade National Congress with confidence not felt in China for centuries. Xi Jinping standing at its helm, China’s central government has guided the world’s most populous country through precarious terrain to continue an economic rise unprecedented in scale.

This is the message Chinese media has for foreign suspicion of Xi Jinping’s consolidation of power and skepticism towards his reform agenda. The lead story run on major Chinese news websites on the eve of the meeting, entitled “Writing the epic scroll of the era of great rejuvenation – a record of central party leadership with comrade Xi Jinping as its core,” extolled the Chinese people’s “new, greater contribution to mankind.”

China’s official Xinhua News Agency went a step further to proclaim in an English-language editorial that “Enlightened Chinese democracy puts the West in the shade.”

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China ascendant, US floundering

U.S. President Donald Trump, left, has shunned America's world role, paving the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping to expand Beijing's global influence. © Pool/Reuters

Chinese President Xi Jinping could not have written a better script. Xi looks unassailable as Communist party congress opens thanks to Trump's missteps.

As China begins its 19th Communist Party Congress, with Xi set to be anointed to a second five-year term and cement his uncontested control, the Chinese leader is perfectly poised to look outward and exert global leadership. He will be doing so precisely as the U.S. is turning inward, its politics appear increasingly dysfunctional, and a new administration, under its "America First" doctrine, is dramatically withdrawing from America's traditional world leadership role.

Xi can largely thank Donald Trump for his good fortune. The American president began his presidency by withdrawing the U.S. from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. It was an accord largely of America's making that was aimed at drawing the region closer to the U.S. economically, while potentially luring China to liberalize its economy as the price of entry. With the TPP now languishing, Beijing is pushing to conclude a rival trade pact, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, or RCEP, by the end of this year.

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Time for 'new era' China to 'take centre stage in the world'

China's President Xi Jinping inspects People's Liberation Army soldiers at a barracks in Hong Kong

PERHAPS the grand Beijing Exhibition Center should be renamed the grand Xi Jinping Adoration Palace.

That's because the giant complex has been transformed into a showcase promoting the accomplishments of China's president: “Five years of Brave Endeavor.” His image is plastered on every wall, his words are blasted from large speakers, and a massive TV screen announces that under Xi, the ruling Communist Party "has solved unsolvable problems and carried out impossible tasks.”

The over-the-top display comes as the party convened Wednesday to select Xi for a second five-year term as its leader, and thus head of the country, cementing his place as the most powerful man to rule this nation of 1.4 billion in at least a generation.

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Xi Jinping says China will take “center stage in the world”

Great Hall of the People: China opens the 19th National Congress - decisions will be formally announced the end of next week

China will take “center stage in the world,” according to President Xi Jinping, who outlined his vision for the country in a three-and-a-half hour speech at the opening of the 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing Wednesday.

Touting the triumph of “socialism,” albeit with “Chinese characteristics,” Xi said China had “crossed the threshold into a new era” during remarks aimed at cementing his position at the top of the regime. “It is time for us to take centre stage in the world and to make a greater contribution to humankind,” he said. Pledging to build a “modern socialist country” by 2035, Xi said China would not “mechanically copy the political systems of other countries,” and even took a veiled swipe at President Donald Trump, who recently withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.

“No country can alone address the many challenges facing mankind; no country can afford to retreat into self-isolation,” Xi said.

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Xi Jinping: The Time Has Come For China ‘To Take Center Stage In The World’

China's President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Aly Song

Chinese President Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, presented his vision for his country and its role in the world at China’s most important political event of the year Wednesday.

Speaking before delegates and officials at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi heralded the arrival of a “new era” of Chinese power. Since he took office as the Chinese leader five years ago, he has attempted to dramatically reshape the Chinese economy with an emphasis on quality over speed, modernize the military to win wars in the information age, and strengthen the party around his “core” leadership through an alleged anti-corruption campaign which has resulted in the purge of over one million government officials.

He has advocated a policy known as the “Chinese Dream,” an ambitious strategy to revitalize Chinese development and restore the country’s great power status. The Chinese president is now calling for a more forceful push. After decades of “tireless struggle,” China now stands “tall and firm in the East,” Xi said Wednesday.

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Xi Jinping consolidates power, calls for 'new era'

Since stepping into power five years ago, Mr Xi has relentlessly consolidated his power earning the title of "core" leader last year. PHOTO: AFP

IN A particularly long speech in front of top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members gathered in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "a new era" for China, with the party well anchored at the core of his vision.

Mr Xi, who also leads the party and the military, reiterated the central role of the CCP in China's development, and laid out his policy goals for the world's second largest economy over the next five years.

At the end of the nearly three-and-a-half hour-long speech, he was heavily applauded by the floor as he took his place on the stage next to his predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, who both made rare public appearances.

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7 things you need to know about Xi Jinping’s vision of a ‘new era’ for China

Along with the special administrative region of Macau, Hong Kong was mentioned no fewer than three times in President Xi Jinping’s speech. Photo: Xinhua

President Xi Jinping has outlined his vision for the next five years of development in China as the Communist Party’s congress opened in Beijing on Wednesday

During a 3½-hour long speech, Xi said the internal and external situations facing China were undergoing complicated changes which the party needed to address.

He vowed to step up ideological guidance within the party, strengthen its anti-corruption campaign, retain the government’s grip on Hong Kong and Macau, and oppose any moves towards independence in Taiwan.

Here are the major takeaways of his report:

A new name for Xi’s political philosophy
Becoming a nation with leading, global influence by 2050
Keeping up with the “irreversible” momentum of anti-corruption campaign and maintaining the rule by law
Protecting national sovereignty
Upholding central government authority over Hong Kong and Macau and opposing Taiwan independence
Creating a level playing field for foreign businesses
Protecting the public interest

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China’s leader Xi Jinping declares the start of a “new era”

Mr Xi stuck to a formulaic style, repeating oft-used phraseology. But there were significant differences, such as in the unlovely title of one section: “Thoughts on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”. Deng Xiaoping coined the clunky term “socialism with Chinese characteristics” in the 1980s. Mr Xi’s contribution is the catchier bit, “new era”.

China, he said, was at a “new historic juncture”. The coming era would see it “moving closer to centre stage and making greater contributions to mankind”. But achieving what he called the “Chinese dream”—another of his catchphrases—would be “no walk in the park”. He said it would “take more than drum-beating and gong-clanging to get there”.

Mr Xi talked in some detail about a “two-stage development plan” that will make China a “great modern socialist country” in the era between now and 2050. According to this, China will become a global leader in innovation by 2035, with “rule of law” in place and much greater “soft power” globally. In the 15 years after that, it will become “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful”. (Mr Xi does not mean democratic in the normal sense: he gave no hint that there would be any erosion whatever of the party’s control.)

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5 Years Ago, China's Xi Jinping Was Largely Unknown. Now He's Poised To Reshape China

China's President Xi Jinping gives a speech at the opening session of the Chinese Communist Party Congress on Wednesday

What a difference five years can make. In the autumn of 2012, Xi Jinping — the Chinese Communist Party general secretary, someone the Economist recently dubbed the "world's most powerful man" — was a little-known figure. As the 18th Party Congress neared, he had spent five years as Chinese president Hu Jintao's heir apparent, but he was not associated with any specific policy, phrase or ideological position.

Little was known about his personal life, except that he was married to a famous singer — or his personal history, except that he was the son of a onetime comrade in arms to Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. When specialists speculated about him, they often considered two possibilities: Would he turn out to be, like Hu during the preceding half-decade, a colorless, rule-by-committee sort who maintained the status quo, gradually tightened control over civil society and made only cautious economic moves? Or would he follow in Deng's footsteps and reboot China's economic reforms — and perhaps even, in the mode of his liberal-minded father, push for some political reforms as well?

That was five long years ago. And the reality of how Xi is ruling China has confounded those early predictions. Now, Xi's face and words are everywhere. China's bookstores are filled with volumes by and about him. He is closely linked to ubiquitous slogans, such as the "China Dream," and sprawling infrastructure and investment programs, such as the Belt and Road Initiative.

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China's Plan to Buy Influence and Undermine Democracy

President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in front of Chinese and Filipino flags.

Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte prior to their bilateral meeting during the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, China on May 15, 2017

Along a major tributary of the Mekong River in northeastern Cambodia sits the newly opened Lower Sesan II Dam hydropower plant. The 400-megawatt dam will produce badly needed electricity for the country, but at the cost of potential major ecological damage and the eviction of some 5,000 families from the area. Such consequences are unlikely to sink the fortunes of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s strongman leader who, for 32 years, has relied on the largesse of foreign governments to fund infrastructure projects: For this latest venture, he has China to thank for footing the more than $800-million bill.

In the past, Southeast Asian nations largely turned to the United States and its Western partners to finance such undertakings; in exchange, several of them would maintain the trappings of a democratic society. But under President Donald Trump, America’s waning regional influence is opening the door for China to expand its footprint in the region, even if that means Beijing must deal with illiberal, repressive autocrats seemingly determined to remain in power forever. “I believe I can live at least 30 more years, therefore I can continue as prime minister for 10 more years. It is not difficult for me,” the 65-year-old Hun Sen remarked at the inauguration for the dam last month.

To enhance its economic and political clout, China has made substantial inroads across Southeast Asia on the back of multi-billion-dollar infrastructure and investment deals like the one in Cambodia. This is how China will engage with the world for the foreseeable future. At the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday, a political conclave held once every five years to present the leadership’s governing agenda, Xi Jinping, arguably China’s strongest ruler in decades, will solidify his rule and reinforce an expansive foreign economic platform that will shape the region for years to come.

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Like Uber, for socialism: Chinese leader calls for more use of AI, big data and sharing economy

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has outlined the nation's technological ambitions in his opening address to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

The Congress is staged every five years and commences with an address from the leader, in which he (always he, so far) outlines past accomplishments, gives official endorsement to previously-announced policies and hints at future directions.

Xi Jinping's speech, delivered yesterday, ran for 205 minutes and saw him tie the nation's economic future to technology, with the following sentence:

"We need to speed up building China into a strong country with advanced manufacturing, pushing for deep integration between the real economy and advanced technologies including internet, big data, and artificial intelligence"

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Xi Jinping: A speech that spells power

The aptly-named Great Hall, where more than 2,000 delegates attended for one lengthy speech

If anyone doubts that China retains an unreformed Leninist political system, then the goings-on inside the Great Hall of the People over the past few hours should put them straight.

Firstly, the president - and general secretary of the Communist Party - was seated alongside a nonagenarian former leader who is simultaneously thought to wield some political power while also frequently rumoured to be dead.

The appearance of Jiang Zemin, whose large glasses and wide smile lead his admirers to affectionately call him "The Toad," caused a ripple of excitement on Chinese social media. "He's alive and well and chatting away!" said a typical post on Weibo - before the censors quickly got to work

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‘We will win ANY war’ China issues chilling challenge for WW3

WORLD WAR 3: China have promised its army will win 'ANY' conflict in a speech by Xi Jinping

Chinese premier Xi Jinping issued the challenge to the world in a three-and-half hour speech at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party.

The strongman leader – described as China’s answer to Vladimir Putin – promised his nation will develop a “world class” military. President Xi promised China will be able to win wars “across all theatres”.

Beijing already has the largest army in the world at its command – with the colossal People’s Liberation Army. China’s arsenal already includes 2.3 million soldiers, 9,200 tanks, 2,900 warplanes, 673 ships and a stockpile of 260 nukes.

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Chinese president Xi lays out vision for 'new era' led by 'still stronger' Communist Party in 3½ HOUR speech as he opens five-yearly national congress

Inside Great Hall: Xi said, China would become a modern socialist 'strong power' with leading influence on world stage

China's biggest political event, the Communist Party congress, opened today in Beijing, under tight security. Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed more than 2,000 delegates in the capital, which ran nearly three and a half hours.

Xi's wide-ranging speech laid out a confident vision for an increasingly prosperous China and its place in the world. 'Through a long period of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, this is a new historical direction in our country's development,' Xi said, using the term 'new era' 36 times.

The twice-a-decade congress, a week-long, mostly closed-door conclave, will culminate with the selection of a new Politburo Standing Committee that will rule China's 1.4 billion people for the next five years, with Xi expected to consolidate his grasp on power. Xi addressed more than 2,000 delegates in Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, including 91-year-old former president Jiang Zemin, under tight security on a rainy, smoggy morning.

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19th congress of Communist Party of China kicks off; Pres. Xi stresses national rejuvenation

The Communist Party of China opens the 19th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China

The 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China kicked off in Beijing on Wednesday. It's China's biggest political event, held only twice a decade. More than 23-hundred delegates are in Beijing from around the country to elect a new Politburo -- the group that effectively rules the country -- to make amendments to the constitution and to lay out plans for national development.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is starting his second term. He's alread been declared the 'core leader' of the Party, but now his political stature is to be put on par with that of the Party's founder Mao Zedong and his successor Deng Xiaoping.

Opening the week-long congress, President Xi said that China has made some historic achievements over past five years, lifting over six million people out of poverty. He stressed that now the Party's task is to realize the "Chinese Dream" of national rejuvenation -- developing "socialism with Chinese characteristics" for a new era and thereby completing the construction of a modern socialist state by the 2050s. To do that, he emphasized, centralized and unified leadership is the key.

"China is still and will long remain in the primary stage of socialism, and China's international status as the world's largest developing country has not changed. The whole Party should work to unite people of all ethnic groups across the country to achieve economic development as the main goal and make China a powerful socialist state."

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Xi Jinping: China entering 'new era' of power amid 'complex changes' abroad, says Chinese Premier

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks during the opening session of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China REUTERS

Chinese President Xi Jinping has pledged to usher in a "new era" that will be proudly Chinese, amid "complex changes" at home and abroad.

Speaking at the opening of the Communist Party congress, Mr Xi laid out his vision for an increasingly prosperous China, calling for the party to safeguard China's sovereignty and pledging to become a modern socialist "strong power".

Striking a decidedly nationalist tone, he said China must revitalise its culture, oppose "erroneous" ideology and promote religion that is "Chinese in orientation."

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Xi says China will continue to open its economy, deepen financial reforms

Former President Hu Jintao, President Xi Jinping, former President Jiang Zemin at China's Congress (from left to right)

China will push ahead with market-oriented reforms of its foreign exchange rate as well as its financial system, and let the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, Xi said at the opening of a key, twice-a-decade Communist Party Congress.

“China’s open door will not be closed, it will be only be opened wider,” Xi said. The government will “clean up rules and practices that hinder a unified market and fair competition, support development of private firms and stimulate vitality of all types of market entities,” Xi said, while pledging to further open China’s services sector to foreign investors.

However, while expressing support for market reform and private firms, Xi also called for stronger, bigger state firms. The government will “promote strengthening, improvement and expansion of state capital, (and) effectively prevent loss of state assets, deepen reform of state-owned enterprises, development a mixed-ownership economy and cultivate globally competitive world-class firms,” Xi said.

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Communist Party of China holds 19th Congress: Xi Jinping vows to build modern socialist country

Xi’s wide-ranging speech kicked off the twice-a-decade congress, a week-long, mostly closed-door conclave that will culminate with the selection of a new Politburo Standing Committee that will rule China's 1.4 billion people for the next five years. Reuters

Chinese president Xi Jinping opened the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Wednesday in Beijing's Great Hall of the People with a pledge to build a "modern socialist country" that will never copy the political systems of others and will remain open to the world. Reuters

Xi’s wide-ranging speech kicked off the twice-a-decade congress, a week-long, mostly closed-door conclave that will culminate with the selection of a new Politburo Standing Committee that will rule China's 1.4 billion people for the next five years.

Xi set out his vision as he addressed more than 2,000 delegates in Beijing's cavernous Great Hall of the People, including 91-year-old former president Jiang Zemin. "Through a long period of hard work, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era, this is a new historical direction in our country's development," Xi said in a speech carried live across the nation on state television.

China will relax market access for foreign investment and expand access to its services sector, as well as deepen market-oriented reform of its exchange rate and financial system, while at the same time strengthening state firms, he said.

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China will erase poverty by 2020, party says

Tuo Zhen, deputy head of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Party of China. AFP

China is fully confident that under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee it will win the battle against poverty on time, Tuo Zhen, spokesman for the 19th CPC National Congress, said on Tuesday.

“As to whether we can build a moderately prosperous society, the key lies in the rural population. It depends on whether the population of poor living in rural areas can be lifted out of poverty,” he said.

To lift all the rural population living in poverty by 2020 is a solid commitment made by the Party and has to be achieved, Tuo added.

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CPC opens 19th national congress as China enters 'new era'

The Communist Party of China (CPC) opens the 19th National Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 18, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened Wednesday as socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a "new era."

Xi Jinping is delivering a report titled "Secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and strive for the great success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era." The theme of the congress is to "Remain true to our original aspiration and keep our mission firmly in mind, hold high the banner of socialism with Chinese characteristics, secure a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, strive for the great success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, and work tirelessly to realize the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation."

"The original aspiration and the mission of Chinese Communists is to seek happiness for the Chinese people and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation," Xi said.

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The road ahead for China – in Xi Jinping’s words

The road ahead for China – in Xi Jinping’s words

Chinese President Xi Jinping detailed a vision for China for the next five years in a 3½-hour speech at the opening of the Communist Party’s 19th congress on Wednesday. Here are his key points:

On Communist Party leadership
On national rejuvenation
On China’s international role
On foreign investment in China
On the domestic economy
On reviving state enterprises
On China’s military
On Taiwan
On Hong Kong
On poverty
On innovation

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How Xi Jinping's China stacks up with the rest of the world

Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin (bottom left) holds up a towel as other attendees clap during a speech by Xi Jinping

In a pivotal three-hour speech, China's President Xi Jinping on Wednesday painted a rosy picture of the country's accomplishments over the past five years. But how does China really stack up with the rest of the world when it comes to the economy, the environment and its military?

When Xi assumed leadership of the ruling Chinese Communist Party in late 2012, the country was in pretty good shape. While the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recession had taken its toll on China's economy, it still grew by 7.8% in 2012, and the year before had overtaken Japan to become the world's second-largest economy.

The biggest challenges facing Xi were largely internal -- corruption, party factional disputes, and environmental. The first two he dealt with quickly, by launching a (some say self-serving) anti-corruption campaign and centralizing power to make himself the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.

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