- Chinese President Xi Jinping called for accelerating the building of a world-class military while touting the fight against COVID-19 as he kicked off a Communist Party Congress by focussing on security and reiterating policy priorities.
- In his decade in power, Xi has set China on an increasingly authoritarian path that has prioritised security, state control of the economy in the name of “common prosperity”, a more assertive diplomacy, a stronger military and intensifying pressure to seize democratically governed Taiwan.
- On the economy, he restated support for the private sector and allowing markets to play a key role, even as China fine-tunes a “socialist economic system” and promotes “common prosperity”.
China’s Xi talks up security, reiterates COVID stance as congress opens
