“We must strengthen our sense of hardship, adhere to the bottom-line thinking, be prepared for danger in times of peace, prepare for a rainy day, and be ready to withstand major tests of high winds and high waves.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping in his opening speech at China's congressional meeting. President Xi is expected to be re-elected at the end of the week-long congress.
oct 17, 2022
Why It Matters: China's Communist Party, which has about 2,300 delegates from across China, meets every five years. President Xi is expected to be the first Chinese president to be re-elected to a third five-year term (the legislative body voted to get rid of presidential term limits in 2018). In his ten years as president, he has made China a more closed country with authoritarian rule.
Something to Consider: The Chinese government uses censorship to limit free speech. But in a rare political protest, banners were recently hung from an overpass in Beijing – the nation's capital. The banners had multiple slogans, one of which read, "Let us strike from schools and from work and remove the dictatorial traitor Xi Jinping."
China's Xi talks up security, reiterates COVID stance as congress opens (Reuters)
These are 4 key points from Xi's speech at the Chinese Communist Party congress (NPR)