Genocidal Chinese dictator Xi Jinping lamented the difficult year behind his country and hinted at more hardship again in a speech commemorating the upcoming Lunar New Year on Monday.
China marks the beginning of a new year, the Year of the Snake, on Wednesday. In anticipation of the festivities, Xi reportedly spoke at a massive Communist Party reception that state media claimed featured over 2,000 guests. Lavish banquets are a staple of Chinese new year festivities and the country has attempted to break world records for largest banquets ever at this time, such as when the city of Wuhan chose to host 130,000 guests for a family-style feast in January 2020.
Xi’s event on Monday was a smaller affair but nonetheless significant as it allowed the dictator to address the country shortly after America inaugurated a new president, Donald Trump, who campaigned on containing malicious Chinese influence around the world.
The South China Morning Post reported that Xi lamented challenges that faced China in the past year, the Year of the Dragon, and suggested that “external shocks” may be in store for the country in the coming year.
“We will press ahead with deepening reforms, expand high-level opening-up, guard against and defuse risks in key areas and external shocks,” Xi promised, “and promote sustained economic recovery and improvement while maintaining social harmony and stability.”
The state-run Xinhua News Agency emphasized Xi’s assurances that China had already overcome several major challenges, particularly economic woes such as growing youth unemployment, a birth rate collapse, and growing international skepticism about trade with his country.
“In the Year of the Dragon, we demonstrated vitality and a can-do spirit. We endured storms and saw the rainbow,” Xi proclaimed.
“We proved once again through our hard work that no difficulty or obstacle will hold back the Chinese people in their pursuit of a better life,” the dictator continued. “Our historical course to build a strong country and rejuvenate the nation will not be blocked.”
In the coming year, he added, China would “undoubtedly break new ground in reform and development as long as we strengthen our conviction and confidence, confront problems and obstacles directly, and tackle risks and challenges without hesitation.”
The Chinese government has struggled in the aftermath of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic to restore the foreign investment lost to years of brutal lockdowns and other human rights atrocities, including imprisoning workers in factories during those lockdowns, separating children from their parents for quarantine, and the ongoing devastation of the Uyghur genocide in occupied East Turkistan. The Morning Post observed in its coverage of Xi’s speech that, at home, “youth unemployment remains high, investor sentiment is fragile, local governments are struggling with debt, and a demographic crisis is looming as the birth rate declines and the population rapidly ages.”
Following Trump’s electoral victory in November, Xi now has to contend with a looming threat of tariffs, which the president asserted he would impose if Beijing did not act seriously to contain the Chinese chemical-fueled fentanyl trade in North America.
“[D]rugs are pouring into our Country, mostly through Mexico, at levels never seen before,” Trump observed in a social media post published in late November. “Until such time as they stop, we will be charging China an additional 10% Tariff, above any additional Tariffs, on all of their many products coming into the United States of America.”
Trump also chose as his secretary of state an American statesman sanctioned by China for his anti-communist advocacy, then-Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Rubio did not shy away from his opposition to China’s human rights abuses and nefarious behavior around the world during his confirmation hearing and, as secretary of state, has supported Trump’s hardline stance on China. The Chinese government has not officially rescinded its ban on America’s top diplomat entering the country, leaving unclear if Rubio will be able to travel to China as his predecessor, the China-friendly Antony Blinken, often did.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to Trump’s tariff threat at the time by ominously reminding Trump not to take the country’s trade for granted.
“About the issue of US tariffs on China, China believes that China-US economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial in nature. No one will win a trade war or a tariff war,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in remarks to the state-run propaganda outlet Global Times.
Xi and Trump ultimately spoke in January, just days before the latter’s inauguration, in a phone call both sides agreed was positive.
“I just spoke to Chairman Xi Jinping of China. The call was a very good one for both China and the U.S.A,” Trump said following the call. “It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry readout of the call said that Xi told Trump that, “given the extensive common interests and broad space of cooperation between the two countries, China and the United States can become partners and friends.”
“President Xi pointed out that it is natural for two big countries with different national conditions to have some disagreements,” the Foreign Ministry added. “The important thing is to respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, and find a proper solution.”
