Sounding very much like a man not going anywhere, Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a critical weeklong Communist Party Congress strongly defending his economic and COVID policies, while vowing to stamp out democratic dissent in Hong Kong and pursue the “reunification” of Taiwan, diplomatically if possible but militarily if necessary.
The formal decision on whether Mr. Xi, 69, will get a precedent-shattering third five-year term as party general secretary and head of the powerful Central Military Commission is not expected until next weekend.
But Mr. Xi, who has emerged as China’s most powerful leader since Mao, doubled down in his opening speech to the delegates on a number of key policies he has pursued since taking power a decade ago.