Xi's speech at annual session hailed overseas

President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, March 13, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Experts: China has sent clear message to further cooperate with other countries

The speech delivered on Monday by President Xi Jinping at the closing meeting of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, showed the country's determination to boost its economy and promote cooperation around the world, experts said.

In his speech, Xi reiterated China's commitment to promoting the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. This is a clear message that the country will further cooperate with other nations, leading to benefits for the rest of the world, said Peter TC Chang, deputy director of the Institute of China Studies at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

Chang said the concept is a shared vision for the developing Global South. He added that the message President Xi shared resonated with people in Southeast Asia and Malaysia.

Lim Tai Wei, an adjunct senior research fellow at National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute, said, "Xi's speech shows a determination to overcome severe conditions, particularly the economy."

It showed the determination to circumvent the difficulties ahead by urging unity among people and the mandate to lead the nation forward in its economic recovery, especially in an uncertain world, Lim said.

The speech was Xi's first after he was unanimously elected president of China and chairman of the Central Military Commission on Friday at the NPC's annual session.

In his speech, Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts will be the central task of the entire CPC and all Chinese people from now through the mid-21st century.

Xi also said the country should advance high-quality development, and that it is important to better coordinate development and security.

A key point of Xi's speech was that he emphasized people-centered and high-quality development, said Chang from the University of Malaya.

"I think he means that, moving forward, the emphasis really should (be) generating socioeconomic uplift for the common folk," said Chang.

China's development model is also an inspiration for countries in Southeast Asia to pursue their own development paths, Chang added.

Noting that this year is the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, which was proposed by Xi in 2013, Chang said the speech's emphasis on high-quality growth can also be applied to the initiative. Chang said he expects to see the BRI expand beyond ports and highways and evolve into a digital, green and healthy Silk Road.

Wilson Lee Flores, honorary chairman at the Anvil Business Club in the Philippines, said Xi's speech outlined the president's clear, bold, hopeful and enlightened vision for the future of a rejuvenated, reunified China, for building a community with a shared future for humanity, and for a better world based on win-win cooperation and multilateralism.

"Xi's speech exemplified the wise, courageous, science-guided, reformist, innovative and people-focused priorities, dreams and aspirations of the Chinese nation," said Flores.

He Naihe, chairman of the Union of Chinese Residing in Japan, said Xi's speech was very encouraging because it outlined a clear blueprint for China's future development.

"I am sure it will also inspire a lot of people like me," said He. "We see substantial opportunity for the world in China's high-quality development."

Prime Sarmiento in Hong Kong contributed to this story.