Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said any actions and tricks to split China are doomed to fail. “It is a shared aspiration of all Chinese people to safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and realize China’s complete reunification. Any actions and tricks to split China are certain to meet with the people’s condemnation and the punishment by the history,” Xi said at the closing meeting of the first session of the 13th National People’s Congress. He said the Chinese people have the resolve, the confidence and the ability to defeat secessionist attempts in any form. “The Chinese people share a common belief that it is never allowed and it is absolutely impossible to separate any inch of our great country’s territory from China,” he added. “China will never seek hegemony or engage in expansion,” he said. “Only those who are accustomed to threatening others see everyone as a threat. The Chinese people’s sincere wish and practical action to contribute to the peace and development of humanity should not be misinterpreted, nor should they be distorted,” Xi said. “Justice will prevail!” Xi said China will stay on the path of peaceful development and continue to pursue a mutually beneficial strategy of opening up. He said China endeavors to uphold international fairness and justice. China advocates that all issues in the world should be settled through consultation with people around the world. China will not impose its will on others, he added. He said China will contribute more Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions and Chinese strength to the world, to push for building an open, inclusive, clean, and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security, and common prosperity. “Let the sunshine of a community with a shared future for humanity illuminate the world!” he said. Xi called for more efforts in achieving the goal of building China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious, and beautiful by the middle of the century. He called for more energy and more concrete measures in deepening reform in all areas, expanding opening up, applying a new vision of development, promoting high-quality economic development and developing a modernized economy, so as to better demonstrate the vitality of the socialist market economy. “We will devote more energy and take more concrete measures in developing socialist democracy, upholding the unity of party leadership, the running of the country by the people, and law-based governance, building a country of socialist rule of law, promoting the modernization of China’s system and capacity for governance, consolidating and developing the broadest possible patriotic united front, to ensure that people enjoy the democratic rights in a broader, fuller and more genuine way,” Xi said. More energy and more concrete measures were also required in developing a great socialist culture in China, cultivating and observing core socialist values, and promoting the creative evolution and development of fine traditional Chinese culture, he said. “We will devote more energy and take more concrete measures in ensuring and improving people’s living standards, strengthening and developing new approaches to social governance, resolutely winning the battle against poverty, promoting social fairness and justice, and making steady progress in ensuring people’s access to childcare, education, employment, medical services, elderly care, housing, and social assistance,” he added. As the curtains closed on the annual two sessions Tuesday, China is setting sail in the ‘new era’ with a detailed chart, steered by a remarkable helmsman and a competent team. The first sessions of the 13th National People’s Congress and the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference are the first high-profile national political events held since the 19th Communist Party of China (CPC) National Congress last October, a landmark Party congress that revealed the roadmap for China’s rejuvenation. “It will be another Long March to materialize the blueprint,” Xi said. The historic two sessions expedite the country’s march to its rejuvenation. China not only conventionally unveiled specific targets and priorities for this year’s development, but also set a new state leadership and government to realize its ambitions. Under the leadership of the CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping, who was re-elected president unanimously, at the core, such pledges will be fulfilled to benefit China and the world. The economic target is GDP growth of around 6.5 percent for 2018, unchanged statistically from last year but different in essence. Gone are the days when double-digit growth was the norm. China has made it clear that it intends to pursue high-quality development powered by greener and more sustainable engines such as consumption and services. The projected GDP expansion rate will still be one of the fastest worldwide, lending new steam to the recovering global economy. China rolled out a sweeping cabinet restructuring plan to cut bureaucracy and improve governance efficiency, introduced a nationwide supervisory commission network to toughen the fight on corruption, and most importantly, amended its fundamental law to enshrine ‘Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era’ as the guiding principle for the country’s rise. These reforms will help China to achieve ‘socialist modernization’ basically by 2035, and become a ‘great modern socialist country’ by the middle of the century, a key goal in the Chinese Dream. Published in Daily Times, March 21th 2018.