Xi Jinping vows to fight ‘bloody battles against our enemies’

Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged “to fight the bloody battle against our enemies” to regain “our due place in the world”.

Xi Jinping adsresses the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People yesteday in Beijing. Picture: Getty Images

President Xi Jinping has pledged “to fight the bloody battle against our enemies” to regain “our due place in the world” in a fervently nationalistic speech to close China’s annual parliamentary session.

No power could stop the ­resurgence of Chinese culture and “high-quality” economic growth, Mr Xi boasted while threatening to protect “every inch” of territory.

Heralding the “New Era” he has declared for his country after the National People’s Congress session paved the way for him to rule for life, Mr Xi said the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has become the biggest dream of the Chinese people”.

Mr Xi’s speech was followed by the more conciliatory Premier Li Keqiang, who urged the US to avoid triggering a trade war by acting “emotionally”. But less than two weeks after Donald Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminium, Mr Li vowed China would “open even wider” to imports and investment.

Without naming the US President, Mr Xi said China would be strong but not aggressive, and would not develop itself at the ­expense of the rest of the world.

“Only those who are in the habit of threatening others will see everyone else as a threat,” he told 3000 NPC delegates in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

Opposing independence for Taiwan or Hong Kong, he declared: “We should achieve full unification of our motherland.”

Defence Minister Marise Payne urged China to resolve the Taiwan straits issue “without intimidation and without coercion”.

“[They should] resolve the Taiwan strait issues between themselves. It’s not something we would ever be involved in,” she told Sky News.

“In raising the Taiwan issue he is re-asserting their own position. But again we would say these are issues which should be resolved without intimidation and without coercion.”

Mr Xi warned that “any ­actions or tricks to split China are doomed to failure”.

The address marked a new move for a President who does not usually address the parliament in such a way. The speech underlined his enhanced role as the most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong

Mr Li held his annual press conference immediately after Mr Xi’s speech. He also contrasted, by implication, China with the US, recalling Mr Xi’s much-­applauded address to the World Economic Forum in Davos last year in which the President vowed to champion economic globalisation.

Mr Li said that — 40 years after the launch of its “reform and opening” era — China would now open its economy even further. “Closing the door would only block China’s own way,” he said.

He said tariffs for “important day-to-day consumer goods” would be reduced further, and slashed to zero for drugs, especially those needed for cancer treatment.

Even though “it would involve a cost”, China would open the service sector up to greater foreign involvement, he said, including aged care, health, education and financial services, areas in which Australia has for two years enjoyed an advantage over competitors through its free-trade agreement.

Manufacturers would no longer be required to transfer their technology when investing in China, and intellectual property would be better protected, he said.

Without international economic partners, he said, China would be “like a boat spinning around in the same place” without making progress towards a destination.

He said “no one will emerge as a winner” if the US launched a trade war.

China would respond “rationally, instead of being led by emotions”, he pledged.

Last year, trade between the countries reached $753 billion, he said, “on the basis of business rules and market principles”.

A large deficit — about which Mr Trump has railed — “is not something we want to see”, he said, adding China was opening up new fields for investment and wished to buy more hi-tech, high-quality goods from the US to produce more “balanced trade” and a “complementary, stable relationship”.

The Premier said China was driving 30 per cent of the world’s economic growth, and that trade and negotiations were important factors in reducing conflict.

He vowed that China would not want expansion or “hegemony” but sought “mutual respect and equality” with other nations. Its business followed market principles and played by the rules, he said. The enormous infrastructure program known as the Belt and Road Initiative and aid programs “never come with political strings attached”, he said, denying any intention to infiltrate another country.

Mr Li welcomed the planned talks between Mr Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, stressing the importance of denuclearisation, and pointing out China’s position as a neighbour with a long border with North Korea.

“You can imagine how closely we have been paying attention to the situation,” the Premier said.

He announced he would be prepared to travel to Japan for talks also involving South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

This would mark the most senior visit from China to Japan in eight years, underlining what Mr Li described as “signs of spring” in the relationship after a long stand-off.

He conceded that private investment had been weak in the domestic economy, and promised that more efforts would be made to ensure the market was more attractive.

This was vital, since China sought to create about 13 million jobs a year, he said, to provide employment for the eight million university graduates and five million technical school graduates joining the workforce annually, besides soldiers being demobilised as the People’s Liberation Army is reduced in size and modernised.

Mr Li described China’s booming online businesses as providing “a new sail on the big ship of China’s economy”.

Additional reporting: Primrose Riordan