China's President Xi Jinping has said he wants to turn the Chinese military into a "great wall of steel," as he spoke on the last day of this year's session of the People's Congress on Monday.
"We should comprehensively promote the modernization of national defense and military construction, and build the people’s army into a great wall of steel that effectively safeguards national sovereignty, security and development interests," Xi said.
The Congress this year approved a 7.2% increase in military spending, an uptick proportionately higher than the planned increase in total expenditure.
Elsewhere in his speech, Xi addressed Beijing's plans for "unification" with Taiwan, although he struck a comparatively cautious tone. He did not repeat earlier statements that Beijing would not rule out the use of military force.
"We should implement the party's overall strategy for resolving the Taiwan issue in the new era, adhere to the one-China principle and the 1992 Consensus, actively promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, resolutely oppose the interference of external forces and the secessionist activities of 'Taiwan independence,' and unswervingly push forward the unification process of the motherland," the leader told the nearly 3,000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Self-governing democratic Taiwan, which has never been part of the People's Republic of China, has had an independent government since 1949, but Beijing considers the island of some 23 million inhabitants a renegade part of its territory.
Following Russia's invasion of neighboring Ukraine, there have been growing concerns that China could also use military force in its longstanding territorial claim to Taiwan.
Bigger role
Xi also called for China to play a bigger role in managing global affairs after Beijing scored a diplomatic coup as the host of talks that produced an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Iran to reestablish diplomatic relations.
China should "actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system" and promote "global security initiatives," said Xi, the country’s most powerful leader in decades.
That will add "positive energy to world peace and development," Xi said.
He also called Monday for faster technology development and more self-reliance in a speech loaded with nationalistic terms. He referred eight times to "national rejuvenation," or restoring China to its rightful place as an economic, cultural and political leader.
He said that before the ruling party took power in 1949, China was "reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country, subject to bullying by foreign countries."
"We have finally washed away the national humiliation, and Chinese people are the master of their own destiny," Xi said. "The Chinese nation has stood up, become rich and is becoming strong."
Earlier Friday, Xi was named to another term in the ceremonial presidency after breaking with tradition in October and awarding himself a third-five year term as general secretary of the ruling party, putting himself on track to become leader for life.
The National People’s Congress on Sunday cemented Xi’s dominance by endorsing the appointment of his loyalists as premier and other government leaders in a once-a-decade change. Xi has sidelined potential rivals and loaded the top ranks of the ruling party with his supporters.