Xi says no more ‘bullying’ as China marks party centenary

China’s President Xi Jinping told crowds gathered in Beijing that the era of China being “bullied” was over and that anyone who tried to separate the party and the Chinese people was doomed to failure as celebrations to mark 100 years of the Communist Party got under way in the Chinese capital.

Speaking from the balcony above the portrait of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square, Xi spoke for more than an hour of the party’s successes since its founding in 1921 – how it had freed China from an “exploitative” feudal system, created a “socialist market economy brimming with vitality” and eliminated absolute poverty.

“Only socialism could save China,” said Xi, who was dressed in a dark grey Mao-style suit. “And only socialism with Chinese characteristics could develop China.”

The Chinese Communist Party defeated the nationalists in the country’s civil war in 1949 and Mao Zedong declared the People’s Republic of China with the goal of lifting people out of crushing poverty. China is now the world’s second-largest economy.

Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said Xi’s underlying message was that the party had “delivered on its promises” and made “China great again”.

The celebrations came with Beijing has under pressure over trade – where tensions have risen with countries including the United States and Australia – and its policies in the far western region of Xinjiang, as well as Hong Kong and Tibet. There are also questions about the COVID-19 pandemic, which emerged in the central city of Wuhan, and continues to cause havoc around the world.

At the head of an increasingly confident party and nation, Xi warned that any attempt to separate the party and the people was “bound to fail”.

Data released on Wednesday, showed party membership increased by 2.43 million last year, the biggest rise since Xi became president in 2013.

While China “welcome[d] friendly suggestions from all around the world”, Xi said the country would not accept “arrogant lectures”.

The loudest rounds of applause and cheering came when Xi said that Chinese people would “no longer allow any alien powers to bully and oppress us”, and that anyone who tried to do so would “be badly battered by the Chinese nation’s perseverance”.

“No one should underestimate Chinese nation’s will and power to fight against foreign power,” Xi added.

The centenary celebrations in Beijing began with a flypast as about 30 military aircraft formed a “100” in the skies above the cheering crowds. There were also trumpets and horns blasting communist songs, and 100-gun salutes fired into the sky in extravagant celebrations of national pride.

The entire nation has been mobilised to observe the day – from the giant city of Shanghai where the CCP was founded and the first party congress was convened – to small towns in Xinjiang where Beijing has been accused of suppressing the rights of the ethnic minority Uighurs.

Xi, who removed a two-term limit on the presidency and is considered the country’s most powerful leader since Mao, was joined by other senior leaders on the southern ramparts of the Forbidden City.

With reporting by Shawn Yuan in Shanghai