BEIJING (Dispatches) -- China needs security to develop and must modernize its military to make it a “Great Wall of Steel”, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, amid mounting tensions with the United States.
Speaking for the first time in his precedent-breaking third term as head of state, Xi called for China to step up its ability to safeguard national security and manage public security.
“Security is the foundation for development, stability is the prerequisite for prosperity,” he said at the closing of the annual parliament session.
Xi also said China must achieve greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology, a call that comes as the United States blocks China’s access to chip making equipment and other cutting-edge technologies.
On Taiwan, the self-ruled island which China claims its own and a major producer of semiconductors, Xi said China must oppose pro-independence and secessionist activities and the interference of external forces.
Xi called for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup as the host of talks that produced an agreement by Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen diplomatic relations.
Beijing has called for changes in the International Monetary Fund and other entities it says fail to reflect the desires of developing countries.
China should “actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system” and promote “global security initiatives,” said Xi.
Xi’s government rattled the United States and Australia in early 2022 when it signed an agreement with the Solomon Islands that would allow Chinese navy ships and security forces to be stationed in the South Pacific nation.
The foreign minister, Qin Gang, warned Washington last week of possible “conflict and confrontation” if the United States doesn’t change course in relations that have been strained by conflicts over Taiwan, human rights, Hong Kong, security and technology.
Xi called Monday for faster technology development and more self-reliance in a speech loaded with nationalistic terms. He referred eight times to “national rejuvenation,” or restoring China to its rightful place as an economic, cultural and political leader.
He said that before the ruling party took power in 1949, China was “reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country, subject to bullying by foreign countries.”
“We have finally washed away the national humiliation, and Chinese people are the master of their own destiny,” Xi said. “The Chinese nation has stood up, become rich and is becoming strong.”
Xi also called for the country to “unswervingly achieve” the goal of “national reunification,” a reference to Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of its territory and is obliged to unite with China, by force if necessary.