President Xi Jinping loomed large over the opening of the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress on October 16, 2022. He is all but guaranteed to emerge from the party congress with a history-making third five-year term, and he is widely expected to tighten his hold over the party by placing political allies in key positions.To get more news about 20th CPC national congress, you can visit shine news official website.

Xi kicked off the party gathering with a landmark speech that stretched for nearly two hours. His address, an abridged version of the full party congress report, focused heavily on domestic issues but also provided a useful glimpse into how Xi and the party leadership view the world and China’s place in it. Xi’s address (and the full report) struck a different tone from the last one Xi delivered at the 19th Party Congress in 2017. While Xi still voiced confidence that China’s power and prospects are on the rise, he also doled out stark warnings about the growing threats and challenges that China faces.

China’s Worsening External Environment
In his 2017 report to the 19th Party Congress, Xi took a triumphant tone, proclaiming that China “stands tall and firm in the East” and asserting that China’s soft power and international influence were on the rise. That speech was seen at the time as presaging a more assertive and activist Chinese foreign policy. Those predictions panned out. The last five years witnessed Beijing ratchet up pressure on Taiwan and take steps to crush Hong Kong’s autonomy. Chinese “wolf warrior” diplomats also aggressively ramped up their rhetoric and tactics in defense of Chinese interests.

Xi’s 20th Party Congress report begins with a summary of work over the last five years, and it expectedly gives China high marks on its handling of foreign policy. Just like the 19th Party Congress report did, Xi’s new report once again claims that “China's international influence, appeal, and power to shape have risen markedly.”

Yet Xi paired his confident tone with dark warnings of looming threats for China. He shared that China is entering a period “in which strategic opportunities, risks, and challenges are concurrent.” The full report notes that China is facing “drastic changes in the international landscape, especially external attempts to blackmail, contain, blockade, and exert maximum pressure on China,” though Xi omitted this from his speech. The report goes on to describe China’s challenges, including a “sluggish” global economy and “regional conflicts and disturbances”—a veiled reference to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The report continues by warning of the risks of “black swans” (unforeseen and unlikely events with high impact) and “gray rhinos” (obvious and high-impact threats that tend to be neglected). According to previous statements by Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi, one such gray rhino would be Taiwan independence.

Adding to these warnings, the report predicts that “external attempts to suppress and contain China may escalate at any time.” While the report never mentions the United States or the West, its bleak assessments of China’s external environment are a clear reflection of Beijing’s concerns over growing tensions and pushback from Washington and many of its democratic allies.

The report further indicates Beijing’s pessimistic outlook about U.S.-China relations in calling for China “to enhance coordination and positive interaction with other major countries to build major-country relations featuring peaceful coexistence, overall stability, and balanced development.” This represents an important change from the 19th Party Congress report in two ways. First, the word “cooperation” (合作) has been replaced with a less ambitious target of “positive interaction”. This suggests that Beijing may assess the prospects for cooperation to be grim and is at most hoping for positive engagements. Second, the report added an additional feature of major-country relations: “peaceful coexistence” This is a common phrase, but its insertion into descriptions of major-country relations likely reflects growing concern in Beijing that U.S.-China relations are trending negatively and that there is a growing risk of a crisis or conflict.
The rest of the report makes clear that Beijing’s answer to managing a worsening external environment is a doubling down on the current approach with an intensified focus on protecting national security.

The report features an all-new section on national security that centers on a “multidimensional” and expansive conception of national security, which is described as a “bedrock of national rejuvenation.” The report urges Chinese cadres to “promote national security in all areas and stages of the work of the Party and the country” and to uphold “centralized, unified leadership over national security work.” Tellingly, the report contains 91 mentions of the word “security”, a significant leap from 54 mentions in the 19th Party Congress report.