At the start of the 20th Communist Party Congress, China’s head of state and party leader praised the country’s successes in combating the pandemic and gave an outlook on the political plans for the coming years.
Applause for China’s strongman: Delegates greet Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People.
On the first day of the 20th Communist Party Congress, China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping presented his work report. Around 2,300 delegates had gathered in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing on Sunday when Xi stepped in front of the microphones just after 10 a.m. In his 105-minute presentation, he looked back at the party’s work over the past five years and gave an outlook for the coming years.
Early on, Xi brought up China’s fight against the spread of the coronavirus. China’s strategy is an “all-out people’s war to stop the spread of the virus,” Xi said, adding that the government has put saving lives before anything else. So far, China has had very few deaths, but has had to repeatedly impose lockdowns due to the poor immunization of the population and the poorly developed health system.
Various reports in the Chinese state media over the past few days have made it clear that China will not shake its zero-tolerance policy. Beijing is likely to stick to its strategy for a long time, possibly years. There will only be a very manageable amount of easing. Investors from abroad were disappointed with the announcements.
New management team of the KP
The party congress, which only takes place every five years, is scheduled to last until next Saturday. A day later, the newly elected Central Committee wants to present the new leadership team of the CP. Xi wants to be elected General Secretary of the Communist Party for the third time. There are said to be changes in the Politburo and in the Standing Committee of the Politburo. Observers assume that Xi will place confidants in key positions: less reform-oriented technocrats, but instead ideology-driven politicians who stand by Xi’s unconditional side.
Xi has imposed an increasingly authoritarian course on his country in recent years. Political freedom has narrowed, state control over the economy has increased, and Marxist ideology is increasingly taking precedence over pragmatism. After the party congress, hardly anything is likely to change on the course. In his speech, Xi repeatedly emphasized the importance of Marxism for China’s development and called on Chinese people to consistently follow the party line.
China’s unification with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province, is a key project for Xi. “The Taiwan issue must be solved by the Chinese,” Xi said, opposing any form of foreign interference. “We remain committed to peaceful reunification, but we will not promise that we will renounce the use of force,” Xi said to loud applause. In recent years, resistance to unification has increased among the Taiwanese people. At the same time, the US and Europe are deepening ties with Taiwan.
Upgrade weapon arsenals
Xi emphasized that in recent years the military has been brought back under the Party’s control. In the future, Xi would like to further streamline the leadership of the army, but above all modernize the weapon arsenal. According to Xi’s ideas, “science and technology” should be modernized in defense.
Xi has repeatedly highlighted China’s achievements in poverty reduction. In addition, China’s head of state emphasized China’s progress in economic development in his speech. China’s share of global economic output has risen from 7 to 18 percent since he took office ten years ago. Recently, however, China’s economy has suffered badly due to the zero-Covid policy and the crisis in the real estate sector.
Going forward, China must strive for higher-quality growth, Xi said. So far, public investments in infrastructure and not own innovations and consumption are still the main growth drivers. At the start of the party congress, Xi promised “support for the development of the private sector”. In addition, “the market will be given a decisive role in the allocation of resources”. However, Xi failed to take any concrete action. He also linked his announcements to the statement that everything must be done under the leadership of the party.
In view of the geopolitical upheavals, Xi promised the Chinese people that the times would be turbulent. He spoke of “high waves and sharp winds” that China must be prepared for. In his speech he mentioned according to the Reuters news agency 73 times the terms “protection” or “security”. He used the term “reforms” 16 times. In his speech five years ago, this came up 70 times.
Sharp surveillance measures
The authorities had recently tightened security measures in the capital again. All pedestrian bridges over Beijing’s expressways are now guarded by several police officers, plainclothes officers and technical systems. On Thursday, a man attached two banners with protest slogans against the zero-Covid strategy to a pedestrian bridge over one of Beijing’s ring roads. “Eating instead of testing” was one, “Freedom instead of lockdown” was another. The man who was arrested immediately after his action can hardly hope that he will be heard.