West enters new era of chaos: Xi tells National People’s Congress

The President spoke of an ominous global environment for China as his communist party comrades pledged their loyalty at the crucial meeting in Beijing.

Xi Jinping arrives to a round of applause as he arrives at the National People’s Congress at the Great Hall of the People on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

Chinese President Xi Jinping has declared the West in chaos and China’s model superior as his communist party comrades pledged their loyalty at a crucial meeting of the National People’s Congress in Beijing before his precedent-breaking third term as leader.

China’s rubberstamp parliament continued its six-day meeting in Beijing on Monday, an annual event overshadowed by the war Mr Xi’s self-declared “best friend” Russian leader Vladimir Putin has waged against Ukraine.

Mr Xi did not mention the war in Ukraine directly in an address to government advisers on Sunday, but he depicted an ominous international environment for China.

“The world has entered a new era of turbulence and change which makes domestic reform and development a challenging task,” Mr Xi said at a meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, the party elite’s mouthpiece the People’s Daily reported.

Despite the gloomy outlook, Mr Xi said China’s socialist system gave the country strategic advantages. “The contrast between ‘the governance of China’ and ‘chaos in the West’ is even more apparent,” he said.

On Saturday, Premier Li Keqiang unveiled an annual growth target of 5.5 per cent, higher than forecast by many economists.

Beijing’s stimulus package – a mixture of infrastructure spending and looser monetary policy – will support the economy ahead of a historic party congress late in the year. That meeting will officially extend Mr Xi’s 10-year reign by another five years.

“This is an exceptional year,” said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at the Centre for China Studies of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. “Xi Jinping cannot afford to look bad.”

Mr Lam noted that economic performance was a key part of the communist party’s legitimacy.

China’s government also revealed that it would increase military spending by 7.1 per cent over the year and further its “combat readiness”, a longstanding priority during the Xi era.

State media said attention on China’s military spending – which rose at its fastest pace in three years – was the result of “foreign media hype”.

Before Mr Xi became the top leader of the communist party in 2012, the NPC was an event dominated by China’s premier. Not any more.

The entire front page of Monday’s People’s Daily was devoted to Mr Xi’s remarks over the weekend.

In his keynote address on Saturday, Mr Li explained the centrality of Mr Xi to China’s government.

“Unity must have a centre, and only by sticking to the centre can everyone be united,” he said.

At a separate session of the political gathering, the other six most senior members of China‘s leadership team – Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan – pledged their loyalty to Mr Xi.

“They stressed the significance of establishing Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the party Central Committee and in the party as a whole, and of defining the guiding role of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era,” China’s official news agency Xinhua reported.

Throughout the gathering, Mr Xi has demonstrated the micromanagement that earned the title “the chairman on everything” early in his reign.

On Saturday, he joined the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region delegation and gave them a lengthy speech on the importance of the party’s leadership and on the correct approach to “ethnic” affairs.

Mr Xi’s comments on “the chaos in the West” came in another long speech on Sunday to a group of agriculture policy advisers.

He said food security demonstrated the importance of Beijing’s “dual circulation” policy, which is focused on reducing China’s vulnerability to the kinds of sanctions Russia is now experiencing.

“Vigilance in food security must not slacken. We must not think that food ceases being an issue after industrialisation. And we cannot count on international supplies to solve the problem,” Mr Xi said, with a “solemn tone”, according to the People’s Daily.

“It is important to maintain bottom-line thinking and never forget danger.”