Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC) on Monday. His remarks comprehensively covered key topics, including the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), national rejuvenation, national reunification, development and security, as well as building a community with a shared future for humanity. 

Chinese analysts said the remarks have highlighted the direction China will take on its march after the 20th CPC National Congress, and 2023 is the opening year of this new journey. They said the speech at the closing meeting of the annual NPC session at the beginning of the year has provided great confidence, energy and certainty to the whole nation to keep marching forward on this new journey. 

Experts also said that the contents of the first speech that Xi delivered in his new term is key for Chinese society and also the international community to better understand how the CPC will lead China to reform, develop and more actively participate in global governance and contribute to world peace and development.  

'Relay-baton' in our hands

From this day forward to the mid-21st century, the central task of the entire CPC and all Chinese people will be to build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts, said Xi while addressing the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress.

"The relay baton of building a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation has been historically passed on to our generation," he said. Xi stressed accelerating Chinese modernization in accordance with the strategic decisions made at the 20th CPC National Congress.

Experts said the task of building a modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation highlighted in Xi's speech has been made very clear, and this has further emphasized the message that in this generation, with the continuous efforts of the past century, the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible and historic process. 

This has demonstrated the sense of duty and responsibility of the Chinese leadership, and also delivered a message of confidence to the whole country and the world that the CPC will and must lead China to accomplish its historic mission no matter what kind of challenges it faces, analysts noted. 

Xi said, "Realizing China's complete reunification is a shared aspiration of all the sons and daughters of the Chinese nation as well as the essence of national rejuvenation."

Expert said this has once again sent a clear message to the world that there is nothing that can stop the process of China's national reunification, and the Taiwan question will and must be resolved in China's journey toward national rejuvenation. 

Xi stressed adhering to the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, actively promoting the peaceful development of cross-Straits relations, resolutely opposing external interference and "Taiwan independence" separatist activities, and firmly advancing the process of national reunification.

People-centered philosophy 

Xi said the people's trust is the biggest motivation that drives him to march on and a great responsibility he shoulders.

"I will faithfully fulfill my responsibilities bestowed by the Constitution, with the nation's needs as my mission and the people's interests my yardstick," said the president. Xi pledged to perform his duty scrupulously, do his utmost, and prove worthy of the trust of all NPC deputies and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups.

Palestinian Ambassador to China Fariz Mehdawi told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that China is governed by a unique political system, and it is based on the satisfaction of the population at large. The legitimacy of the system comes from the overall satisfaction, endorsement, and approval of the people.

During the last few decades, any fair observer would say the vast majority of the Chinese people are happy about what's happening in their country, and they're optimistic about the future. That's really a sign of approval that gives the legitimacy of the system itself and the institutions they are governing, said the ambassador.

Giancarlo Elia Valori, an Italian expert on international affairs, told the Global Times that "The two sessions this year have witnessed increased proposals and motions on people's livelihood security, including employment and entrepreneurship, education, medical care, housing and other livelihood issues, which are the issues about which Chinese people care most."

Xi said in his speech that "It is a must to put the people first on the new journey of building China into a great modern socialist country and advancing national rejuvenation." He said a people-centered philosophy of development must be implemented so that the gains of modernization will benefit all people fairly, and that more notable and substantive progress will be made in promoting prosperity for all.

The two sessions this year have fully reflected how whole-process people's democracy works in China, and how this special democratic system is able to keep innovating and effectively respond to people's concerns and efficiently find solutions to problems and seize the opportunities of development and reforms, said experts. 

This has brought confidence and vitality for China's journey into the future, and offers the world an alternative when the decaying Western democratic system has shaken people's belief in democracy as a whole, analysts said. 

CPC leadership

In his speech on Monday, Xi stressed upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the centralized, unified leadership of the CPC Central Committee. "It is important to stay alert and determined to tackle the special challenges that a large party like the CPC faces," Xi said.

The CPC's strong leadership was the most crucial advantage that helped China realize successful development in the past and that will help it to achieve the goal of national rejuvenation in the future, especially when the world is currently seeing great turbulence, but the Chinese leadership has also wisely and farsightedly seen the special challenges for a large political party that must be overcome, experts said.  

Yang Xuedong, a professor of political science at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Monday that "some special challenges for a large political party like the CPC are tough and must be dealt with. For instance, many of a large ruling party's members are also working in key positions with power to control and distribute resources, so within a large party, some members will become forces with vested interests and become corrupted in the process of rapid economic development. They will become the obstacle blocking the reform of the country."

The Communist Party of the former Soviet Union (CPSU) was a large party that failed to realize effective reform or deal with the special challenges that a large party faces, Yang said. "Therefore, the CPC will and must avoid repeating the mistake made by the CPSU, and the key is to have courage and determination to keep pushing self-reform or self-revolution," Yang noted.

Xi underlined the importance of always having the courage to carry out self-reform, conducting full and rigorous Party self-governance unceasingly, and fighting corruption resolutely.

Efforts are needed to always maintain the Party's solidarity and unity, and ensure that the CPC will never change its nature, its conviction, or its character, so as to provide a firm guarantee for building China into a great modern socialist country and realizing national rejuvenation, Xi noted

Yang said that in the new journey and the next stage of development, under the Party's leadership, China will keep up the anti-corruption efforts that have successfully healed the political environment over the past decade. 

"The key in the next stage is to institutionalize our successful anti-corruption efforts and to modernize the democratic supervision over the operation of political power, and this is why we need to fully implement and promote whole-process people's democracy and all-round law-based governance," said the expert.

Message to the world

Xi said on Monday that "China will make efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity." China's development benefits the world and China cannot develop in isolation from the rest of the world, Xi noted.

Stressing that China will make concrete efforts to advance high-standard opening-up, Xi said the country will not only leverage global markets and resources for its own development, but also promote the development of the whole world.

Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Monday that this is a message to the world that China will not close the door of opening-up even if it faces containment from the US, and while China gets benefits from the world, it will also share opportunities with the world to develop together, and China has confidence in realizing win-win relations with everyone.  

"We will be dedicated to peace, development, cooperation, and mutual benefit, stand firmly on the right side of history, practice true multilateralism, and uphold the shared values of humanity," said Xi.

The Chinese president said that China will play an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system, contribute its share to building an open world economy, advance the implementation of the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, add more stability and positive energy to the peaceful development of the world, and foster a favorable international environment for China's development.

The latest achievement that China participated in and that greatly promotes world peace is the agreement to reestablish diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, experts said. Through concrete contributions and actions, China is convincing the world that it has the confidence, capability and credibility to help all countries facing problems such as geopolitical crises and military conflicts to find peaceful solutions, no matter how complicated and difficult they are, experts said. 

China has full confidence and determination to build a community of shared future with all nations around the globe together, they noted.