Xi in pledge to continue China's great renewal
Source: Xinhua |
November 16, 2012, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Xi Jinping succeeded Hu Jintao as China's leader yesterday, assuming top posts in the Communist Party and the military in a once-a-decade leadership transition.
Xi was elected general secretary of the Party after a meeting of its new Central Committee that capped a weeklong congress. Xi was also named chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission.
Immediately after the announcements, Xi strode onto a stage in the Great Hall of the People, leading the six other newly appointed members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau who will form the Party's core leadership.
"We shall do everything we can to live up to your trust and fulfill our mission," Xi, 59, said in remarks that were broadcast on state television and worldwide.
The generational leadership change comes as China's investment-charged juggernaut economy is slowing, and as a more prosperous Chinese public expects improvements in living standards, government and social fairness.
"There are also many pressing problems within the Party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption," Xi said. "We must make every effort to solve these problems. The whole Party must stay on full alert."
Speaking to the media yesterday, Xi traced China's ancient civilization and its struggles to regain its leading role in the world, culminating in a Communist revolution that he promised to lead on to the benefit of the Chinese people.
"Our responsibility now is to rally and lead the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in China in taking up this historic baton and in making continued efforts to achieve the great renewal of the Chinese nation, make the Chinese nation stand rock-firm in the family of nations, and make even greater contributions to mankind," Xi said.
He then ran through a list of deliverables to the Chinese people: better education, higher incomes, a bigger social safety net and environmental protection.
"To meet people's desire for a happy life is our mission," Xi said.
The group debut of the new leadership sparked immediate curiosity in global cyberspace. Many think Xi will bring fresh air to the world's economic powerhouse.
"I've got a man-crush on Xi. He'll be a great pitchman for China's rise, I suspect," said Shai Oster, a Hong Kong-based reporter, on his Twitter account.
Biggest challenge
Xi was ranked among the 100 most influential figures of 2012 by Time magazine, along with Barack Obama, Jeremy Lin of the Houston Rockets and Argentine soccer star Messi.
The ranking acknowledges that Xi enjoys great influence. However, he also faces huge challenges as China's new leader.
One of his biggest challenges is how to maintain the country's economic winning streak of more than 30 years.
Xi told reporters the responsibility of the leadership lies in "taking the relay baton passed on to us by history and making continued efforts to achieve the great renewal of the Chinese nation."
Xi has already been praised for his straightforward approach.
"Xi Jinping's speech was refreshingly brief and free of jargon," tweeted Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Beijing bureau chief.
The situation Xi is inheriting from Hu Jintao has many strengths, including the country's manufacturing capability, its huge trade surplus and a growing national eagerness to revitalize the age-old country that "has endured untold hardship and suffering in modern times."
However, the country's expanding middle class is calling for China's version of the "American Dream." As Xi put it, all the people are craving "better education, more stable jobs, higher salaries, better social welfare, better medical and health care, improved housing conditions and a better environment."
"The objective is clear. Now we're waiting for his actions," "zhongguominjian" posted on Weibo.
Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business at Indiana University in the US, described the challenges he thinks China's leadership is facing.
"The leadership will have to reform the education system to genuinely promote creativity and innovation, reduce the privileges of state-owned enterprises, reduce the gap between rich and poor, aggressively take on corruption, and vastly expand the transparency of the political system," he said.
In 1969, Xi was sent to a remote village in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. He farmed with farmers there from 1969 to 1975. Xi joined the Party in the village in 1974.
Agricultural know-how
He later became deputy Party head of Zhengding County in Hebei Province in 1982. In 1985, as the county's Party head, Xi made his first trip to the US, seeking advanced agricultural know-how for the county.
He later served as Party chief of Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, from 1990 to 1996.
Xi was Shanghai's Party chief for five months in 2007.
He was elected vice president in March 2008. During his term as vice president, a position he still holds, Xi traveled to numerous countries, including Italy, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Vietnam, Angola, South Africa, Mexico and Ireland.
In February this year, Xi visited the US, emphasizing the importance of China-US relations.
Hu Xiaobo, professor of politics with the Center for China Studies at Clemson University in the US, said he was "much impressed" by Xi.
"He seemed a natural leader, with his homework well done and ready to reach out to others at ease. He presented himself as an engaging diplomat, candid and humane," Hu said.
Xi was elected general secretary of the Party after a meeting of its new Central Committee that capped a weeklong congress. Xi was also named chairman of the Party's Central Military Commission.
Immediately after the announcements, Xi strode onto a stage in the Great Hall of the People, leading the six other newly appointed members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau who will form the Party's core leadership.
"We shall do everything we can to live up to your trust and fulfill our mission," Xi, 59, said in remarks that were broadcast on state television and worldwide.
The generational leadership change comes as China's investment-charged juggernaut economy is slowing, and as a more prosperous Chinese public expects improvements in living standards, government and social fairness.
"There are also many pressing problems within the Party that need to be resolved, particularly corruption," Xi said. "We must make every effort to solve these problems. The whole Party must stay on full alert."
Speaking to the media yesterday, Xi traced China's ancient civilization and its struggles to regain its leading role in the world, culminating in a Communist revolution that he promised to lead on to the benefit of the Chinese people.
"Our responsibility now is to rally and lead the entire Party and the people of all ethnic groups in China in taking up this historic baton and in making continued efforts to achieve the great renewal of the Chinese nation, make the Chinese nation stand rock-firm in the family of nations, and make even greater contributions to mankind," Xi said.
He then ran through a list of deliverables to the Chinese people: better education, higher incomes, a bigger social safety net and environmental protection.
"To meet people's desire for a happy life is our mission," Xi said.
The group debut of the new leadership sparked immediate curiosity in global cyberspace. Many think Xi will bring fresh air to the world's economic powerhouse.
"I've got a man-crush on Xi. He'll be a great pitchman for China's rise, I suspect," said Shai Oster, a Hong Kong-based reporter, on his Twitter account.
Biggest challenge
Xi was ranked among the 100 most influential figures of 2012 by Time magazine, along with Barack Obama, Jeremy Lin of the Houston Rockets and Argentine soccer star Messi.
The ranking acknowledges that Xi enjoys great influence. However, he also faces huge challenges as China's new leader.
One of his biggest challenges is how to maintain the country's economic winning streak of more than 30 years.
Xi told reporters the responsibility of the leadership lies in "taking the relay baton passed on to us by history and making continued efforts to achieve the great renewal of the Chinese nation."
Xi has already been praised for his straightforward approach.
"Xi Jinping's speech was refreshingly brief and free of jargon," tweeted Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times Beijing bureau chief.
The situation Xi is inheriting from Hu Jintao has many strengths, including the country's manufacturing capability, its huge trade surplus and a growing national eagerness to revitalize the age-old country that "has endured untold hardship and suffering in modern times."
However, the country's expanding middle class is calling for China's version of the "American Dream." As Xi put it, all the people are craving "better education, more stable jobs, higher salaries, better social welfare, better medical and health care, improved housing conditions and a better environment."
"The objective is clear. Now we're waiting for his actions," "zhongguominjian" posted on Weibo.
Scott Kennedy, director of the Research Center for Chinese Politics & Business at Indiana University in the US, described the challenges he thinks China's leadership is facing.
"The leadership will have to reform the education system to genuinely promote creativity and innovation, reduce the privileges of state-owned enterprises, reduce the gap between rich and poor, aggressively take on corruption, and vastly expand the transparency of the political system," he said.
In 1969, Xi was sent to a remote village in northwest China's Shaanxi Province. He farmed with farmers there from 1969 to 1975. Xi joined the Party in the village in 1974.
Agricultural know-how
He later became deputy Party head of Zhengding County in Hebei Province in 1982. In 1985, as the county's Party head, Xi made his first trip to the US, seeking advanced agricultural know-how for the county.
He later served as Party chief of Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian Province, from 1990 to 1996.
Xi was Shanghai's Party chief for five months in 2007.
He was elected vice president in March 2008. During his term as vice president, a position he still holds, Xi traveled to numerous countries, including Italy, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Vietnam, Angola, South Africa, Mexico and Ireland.
In February this year, Xi visited the US, emphasizing the importance of China-US relations.
Hu Xiaobo, professor of politics with the Center for China Studies at Clemson University in the US, said he was "much impressed" by Xi.
"He seemed a natural leader, with his homework well done and ready to reach out to others at ease. He presented himself as an engaging diplomat, candid and humane," Hu said.
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