Xi touts ‘zero-COVID’ as China’s Communist Party Congress begins | Xi Jinping News

China’s Communist Party has kicked off its twice-in-a-decade Congress, with President Xi Jinping touting Beijing’s “zero-Covid” approach, hailing an end to the “chaos” in Hong Kong and refusing to disavow the use of force to take Taiwan.

The week-long meeting, which began on Sunday, is the CCP’s most important political event and Xi is expected to receive a third five-year term, breaking with recent precedent and establishing him as arguably the most powerful Chinese politician since founder Mao Zedong.

In a lengthy report at the Congress’s opening, Xi extolled the achievements of the past five years and said the party would strive to meet its modernization goals to achieve what it calls the “rejuvenation” of the nation.

“The rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is an irreversible, historical course,” he said to the more than 2,000 delegates attending the opening, held in the Great Hall of the People that overlooks Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing.

Xi, whose government has weathered months of criticism over the effects of his  strict “zero-Covid policy”, defended the approach, saying China had put “the people and their lives first” when dealing with the pandemic.

China had “protected people’s safety and health to the highest degree,” he said and “achieved significant positive results in coordinating epidemic prevention and control and social and economic development”.

He also hailed the end of what he described as the “chaos” in Hong Kong, where a harsh and wide-ranging crackdown on pro-democracy protesters has drawn criticism from Western governments.

“The situation in Hong Kong has achieved a major transition from chaos to governance,” he said, going on to pledge a “major struggle against separatism and interference” in the self-ruled island of Taiwan.

The delegates, wearing blue face masks, responded with loud applause.

The “Taiwan issue… must be resolved by Chinese people alone”, Xi went on, condemning “external forces” interfering in the affairs of the island, which Beijing claims as its own.

“We will adhere to striving for the prospect of a peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and greatest efforts, but will never commit to abandoning the use of force, and reserve the option to take all necessary measures,” he said.

The Chinese leader also said the Communist Party of 96 million members “has won the largest battle against poverty in human history” and said his long-running crackdown on corruption had put an end to “serious latent dangers” within the party and military.

The son of a Communist Party revolutionary, Xi has reinvigorated a party that had grown deeply corrupt and increasingly irrelevant, expanding its presence across all aspects of China, with Xi officially its “core”.

Xi did away with presidential term limits in 2018, clearing the way for him to break with the precedent of recent decades and rule for a third five-year term, or longer.

The congress is expected to reconfirm Xi as party general secretary, China’s most powerful post, as well as chairman of the Central Military Commission. Xi’s presidency is up for renewal in March at the annual session of China’s parliament.

In the run-up to the congress, the Chinese capital stepped up security and COVID curbs, while steel mills in nearby Hebei province were instructed to cut back on operations to improve air quality, an industry source said.

The day after the congress ends on Saturday, Xi is expected to introduce his new Politburo Standing Committee, a seven-person leadership team. It will include the person who will replace Li Keqiang as premier when Li steps down from that post in March after serving the maximum two terms.

The weeklong congress is the 20th in the history of the century-old party, which has ruled China for more than 70 years.