Speeches that Changed the World

The Communist Party General Secretary’s speech to the Politburo Standing Committee Members’ meeting in Beijing, 15 November 2012

XI JINPING

Born 15 June 1953 in Beijing, China, to a father who was among the first generation of communist leaders.

Xi joined the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1974 and five years later graduated in chemical engineering from Tsinghua University. He worked his way through a series of Party administrative posts, becoming governor of Fujian Province in 2000 and receiving acclaim for overseeing an economic upturn. Regarded as an opponent of corruption, in 2007 he took a senior party position in Shanghai and joined the Politburo’s standing committee. Within three years, he had been earmarked as Hu Jintao’s likely successor as national president. In 2012 he was named CCP general-secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission. He was sworn in as China’s president in March 2013. Although he was little known on the international stage, there were high hopes that he would spearhead liberalizing social and political reforms. He also faced the tricky task of navigating the next stage of China’s economic revolution.

By the time xi took office in 2013, China was already an economic superpower, having overtaken Japan as the world’s second largest economy (behind the USA) in 2010. Average annual GDP growth in the first decade of the century regularly exceeded 10 per cent.

As the global economic slowdown of the late 2000s starkly illustrated the inherent weak points of the Western economic model that had reigned unchallenged for so long, China stood poised to end centuries of stalled progress and take its place at the international top table. With neighbouring India experiencing its own impressive boom, political commentators across the globe have spent years heralding the rise of the East and relative decline of the West.

Yet the picture is not quite so simple as that. Certainly, China’s economic progress – ushered in by the market-focused reforms of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s – has been nothing less than awesome. The country has enormous reserves of manpower too, accounting for almost one-fifth of the global population. But after a quarter-century of rapid expansion, the government continues to strive to improve income equality. While it is estimated that some 400 million people have emerged from poverty since the early 1990s, wealth has fallen almost exclusively to those living in urban centres, leaving much of the rural population struggling to keep up.

Meanwhile, China’s influence on the international scene has grown significantly thanks to a mixture of shrewd investment and generous aid giving, most notably in Africa. The 2008 Summer Olympic Games held in Beijing were a no-expense-spared spectacular designed to cement China’s position among the global big-hitters, even if protests by pro-Tibetan activists before and during the Games were an unwelcome distraction for Beijing.

Against this backdrop, Xi’s speech was an important statement of how China sees itself and its role in the world. It also marked the beginning of the road to achieving what he would term in the following months ‘the Chinese dream’, namely the ‘great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation’ – a slogan that captured the imagination of a nation hungry to resume its world-leading status after a hiatus of centuries. Xi himself embraced a refreshing brevity in his oratory, with a preference for plain speaking often missing from the addresses of his predecessors. It was a performance of some charisma.

Xi’s speech did not represent a sea-change in how China operates. At one level, it merely reasserted the centrality of the CCP in Chinese life. However, it also bought into a tradition that stretches back far beyond the darkest days of Maoism, recalling a nation that has ‘made an indelible contribution to the civilization and advancement of mankind’. Such a narrative is an easy sell to most Chinese. Next, to persuade the West to embrace the ‘New China’.

During these days, friends in the press have given lots of coverage to the Congress and conveyed China’s voice in abundance to every country around the world. Everyone has been very dedicated, professional and hardworking. For this, on behalf of the Secretariat of the 18th Party Congress, I would like to express sincere gratitude to you.

. . . Here, on behalf of the members of the new central leadership organization, I sincerely thank all comrades of the Party for their trust in us. We will live up to the great trust placed on, and the mission assigned to, us.

The great trust of all members of the Party and the expectations of people of all ethnic groups around the country are not only a tremendous encouragement to our doing the work well, but also a heavy burden on our shoulders.

This great responsibility is the responsibility to our nation. Our nation is a great nation.

During the civilization and development process of more than 5,000 years, the Chinese nation has made an indelible contribution to the civilization and advancement of mankind.

In the modern era, our nation experienced constant hardship and difficulties. The Chinese nation reached its most dangerous period. Since then, countless people, with lofty ideals to realize the great revival of the Chinese nation, rose to resist and fight, but failed one time after another.

Since the founding of the CPC, we have united and led the people to advance and struggle tenaciously, transforming the impoverished and backward Old China into the New China that has become prosperous and strong gradually. The great revival of the Chinese nation has demonstrated unprecedentedly bright prospects.

Our responsibility is to unite and lead the people of the entire Party and of all ethnic groups around the country, while accepting the baton of history and continuing to work to realize the great revival of the Chinese nation in order to let the Chinese nation stand more firmly and powerfully among all nations around the world and make a greater contribution to mankind.

This great responsibility is the responsibility to the people. Our people are a great people. During the long process of history, by relying on our own diligence, courage and wisdom, Chinese people have opened up a good and beautiful home where all ethnic groups live in harmony, and fostered an excellent culture that never fades.

Our people love life and expect better education, more stable jobs, better income, more reliable social security, medical care of a higher standard, more comfortable living conditions, and a more beautiful environment.

They hope that their children can grow up better, work better and live better. People’s yearning for a good and beautiful life is the goal for us to strive for.

Every bit of happiness in the world has to be created by diligent work and labour. Our responsibility is to rally and lead the whole Party and all of China’s ethnic groups, and continue to emancipate our way of thinking, insist on reform and opening-up, further unleash and develop socially productive forces, work hard to resolve the difficulties faced by the masses in both production and life, and steadfastly take the road of common prosperity.

This is a major responsibility for the Party. Our party is a political party that serves the people wholeheartedly. The Party has led the people in scoring accomplishments that capture the attention of the world. We have every reason to be proud. However, we are proud but not complacent, and we will never rest on our laurels.

In the new situation, our party faces many severe challenges, and there are many pressing problems within the party that need to be resolved – especially problems such as corruption and bribe-taking by some Party members and cadres, being out of touch with the people, placing undue emphasis on formality and bureaucracy, and these must be addressed with great effort.

The metal itself must be hard to be turned into iron. Our responsibility is to work with all comrades in the Party to be resolute in ensuring that the Party supervises its own conduct; enforces strict discipline; effectively deals with the prominent issues within the Party; earnestly improves the Party’s work style; and maintains close ties with the people. So that our party will always be the firm leadership core for advancing the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

It is the people who create history. The masses are the real heroes. Our strength comes from the people and masses. We deeply understand that the capability of any individual is limited, but as long as we unite as one, there is no difficulty that we cannot overcome. Individuals have limited time in work, but there is no limit in serving the people wholeheartedly.

Our responsibility is weightier than Mount Tai, and our journey ahead is long and arduous. We must always be of one heart and mind with the people; share weal and woe with the people; make concerted and hard effort with the people; attend to our duties day and night with diligence; and strive to deliver a satisfactory account to history and the people.

Friends from the press, China needs to learn more about the world, and the world also needs to learn more about China. I hope you will continue to make more efforts and contributions to deepening the mutual understanding between China and the countries of the world.

‘This great responsibility is the responsibility to the people’