CPC Congress in China – Xi Jinping warns of “serious storms” – News

• The Beijing Communist Party Congress began on Sunday in the Great Hall of the People.
• China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping has warned of difficult times and “potential dangers”.
• At the beginning of the conference, the president called on the people of billions to “prepare for the worst case.”

“So prepare yourself and be prepared to withstand high winds, rough seas, and even dangerous storms,” ​​Xi said.

Internationally, the party leader sees “enormous risks and challenges” as well as “global changes not seen in a century”. His speech, which lasted nearly two hours in front of red flags and a golden hammer and sickle, was strongly ideological. He called about 2,300 delegates to faithfully follow his leadership for the formation of a “modern socialist state”. The next five years are crucial for that.

It dashed hopes that the strict zero-Covid policy could be eased. He described it as “essential” and spoke of “enormous and encouraging achievements”. As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, China continues its zero-tolerance policy – with lockdowns, mass testing, quarantines and digital contact tracing, plunging the second-largest economy into a growth crisis.

The focus of the Party Congress, held only every five years, is to expand Xi Jinping’s power. The delegates would appoint a new Central Committee of followers and embed its ideology more deeply as a guiding principle in the party’s constitution. “Continuous changes will basically ensure that the party should do what Xi Jinping says,” said Ness Grunberg of the China Merex Institute in Berlin.