Xi Jinping calls for renaissance
If new China leader Xi Jinping’s first speech as President on Sunday was marked with words like “rejuvenation” and the realisation of the “China Dream”, Premier Li Keqiang’s debut press conference later focused on why China needs to reform to survive. Sutirtho Patranobis reports.
If new China leader Xi Jinping’s first speech as President on Sunday was marked with words like “rejuvenation” and the realisation of the “China Dream”, Premier Li Keqiang’s debut press conference later focused on why China needs to reform to survive.
Addressing the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, at the Great Hall of the People, Xi said: “The Chinese dream, after all, is the dream of the people. We must realise it by closely depending on the people. We must incessantly bring benefits to them people.”
“We must make persistent efforts, press ahead with indomitable will, continue to push forward the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and strive to achieve the Chinese dream of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” he said.
Xi who became the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November has made calls for China’s renewal and realising the “China Dream” in his tours across the country.
But he has never explained whether the phrase is an emulation of the concept behind “American Dream”; in Sunday’s speech, he simply said: To realise the “Chinese dream,” China must take the Chinese way.”