China's Xi talks up security, reiterates COVID stance as congress opens - Reuters

BEIJING, Oct 16 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the gathering of a world-class subject portion touting the combat against COVID-19 arsenic helium kicked disconnected a Communist Party Congress by focussing heavy connected information and reiterating argumentation priorities.

Xi, 69, is wide expected to triumph a 3rd enactment word astatine the decision of the week-long legislature that began connected Sunday morning, cementing his spot arsenic China's most almighty ruler since Mao Zedong.

Roughly 2,300 delegates from astir the state gathered successful the immense Great Hall of the People connected the westbound broadside of Tiananmen Square amid choky information and nether bluish skies aft respective smoggy days successful the Chinese capital.

Xi described the 5 years since the past enactment legislature arsenic "extremely uncommon and abnormal", during a code that lasted little than 2 hours - acold shorter than his astir three-and-a-half-hour code astatine the 2017 congress.

"We indispensable fortify our consciousness of hardship, adhere to the bottom-line thinking, beryllium prepared for information successful times of peace, hole for a rainy day, and beryllium acceptable to withstand large tests of precocious winds and precocious waves," helium said.

He mentioned "safety" oregon "security" 73 times, compared with 55 times successful 2017, according to authorities quality bureau Xinhua's transcripts, and said China volition fortify its quality to physique a strategical deterrent capability.

By comparison, Xi said "reforms" 16 times successful the televised speech, acold less than the 70 mentions 5 years ago.

Xi called for strengthening the quality to support nationalist security, ensuring nutrient and vigor supplies, securing proviso chains, improving the quality to woody with disasters and protecting idiosyncratic information.

The biggest applause came erstwhile Xi restated absorption to Taiwan independence.

In his decennary successful power, Xi has acceptable China connected an progressively authoritarian path that has prioritised security, authorities power of the system successful the sanction of "common prosperity", a much assertive diplomacy, a stronger subject and intensifying unit to prehend democratically governed Taiwan.

Analysts mostly bash not expect important alteration successful argumentation absorption successful a 3rd Xi term.

Alfred Wu, subordinate prof astatine the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy astatine the National University of Singapore, said that arsenic China's system has slowed, Xi is attempting to displacement the ground of legitimacy from economical maturation to security.

"His communicative is - China faces galore dangers, the state is successful a war-like state, figuratively, and helium is the saviour. With this narrative, helium tin get radical to unite astir him," helium said.

CONTINUITY

In caller days, China has repeatedly emphasised its committedness to Xi's zero-COVID strategy, dashing hopes among countless Chinese citizens arsenic good arsenic investors that Beijing mightiness statesman exiting anytime soon a argumentation that has caused wide vexation and economical damage.

Xi said small astir COVID different than to reiterate the validity of a argumentation that has made China a planetary outlier arsenic overmuch of the satellite tries to coexist with the coronavirus, which emerged successful cardinal China successful precocious 2019.

"We person adhered to the supremacy of the radical and the supremacy of life, adhered to dynamic zero-COVID ... and achieved large affirmative results successful the wide prevention and power of the epidemic, and economical and societal development," Xi said.

On the economy, helium restated enactment for the backstage assemblage and allowing markets to play a cardinal role, adjacent arsenic China fine-tunes a "socialist economical system" and promotes "common prosperity".

"We indispensable physique a high-level socialist marketplace economical strategy ... unswervingly consolidate and make the nationalist ownership system, unswervingly promote and enactment the improvement of the backstage economy, springiness afloat play to the decisive relation of the marketplace successful the allocation of resources, and springiness amended play to the relation of the government," helium said.

PARTY POWER

Xi's powerfulness appears undiminished by the tumult of a twelvemonth that has seen China's economy dilatory dramatically, dragged down by the COVID policy's predominant lockdowns, a situation successful the spot assemblage and the interaction of his 2021 crackdown connected the once-freewheeling "platform economy", arsenic good arsenic planetary headwinds.

China's relations with the West person deteriorated sharply, worsened by Xi's enactment of Russia's Vladimir Putin.

The lad of a Communist Party revolutionary, Xi has reinvigorated a enactment that had grown profoundly corrupt and progressively irrelevant, expanding its beingness crossed each aspects of China, with Xi officially its "core".

Xi did distant with statesmanlike word limits successful 2018, clearing the mode for him to interruption with the precedent of caller decades and regularisation for a 3rd five-year term, oregon longer.

"I enactment the re-election of Xi Jinping to a 3rd word with some hands," Li Yinjiang, a delegate from Jiangsu province, told Reuters. "He tin marque our state beardown and our radical happy."

The legislature is expected to reconfirm Xi arsenic enactment wide secretary, China's astir almighty post, arsenic good arsenic president of the Central Military Commission. Xi's presidency is up for renewal successful March astatine the yearly league of China's parliament.

In the run-up to the congress, the Chinese superior stepped up information and COVID curbs, portion alloy mills successful adjacent Hebei state were instructed to chopped backmost connected operations to amended aerial quality, an manufacture root said.

The time aft the legislature ends connected Saturday, Xi is expected to present his caller Politburo Standing Committee, a seven-person leadership team. It volition see the idiosyncratic who volition regenerate Li Keqiang arsenic premier erstwhile Li steps down from that station successful March aft serving the maximum 2 terms.

Reporting by Yew Lun Tian, Ryan Woo, Martin Quin Pollard, Eduardo Baptista, Kevin Yao and Dominique Patton; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by William Mallard

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