Back to feed
Politics
Xi Jinping Tells 77th National Day Reception China's Rejuvenation Is 'Unstoppable,' Vows to Fight Taiwan Independence
Reporter 欧亚时报编辑部
On the evening of September 30, a reception marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was held with great ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, President of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attended and delivered an important speech. Premier Li Qiang presided over the reception, with Politburo Standing Committee members Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi and Han Zheng also in attendance. About 800 Chinese and foreign guests gathered to celebrate the 77th founding anniversary of New China. Inside the brightly lit Great Hall, five-star red flags and festive red decorations marking National Day set a solemn yet celebratory atmosphere.
In his speech, Xi reviewed New China's 77-year journey, noting that the Communist Party of China has united and led people of all ethnic groups in unyielding struggle, creating two major miracles: rapid economic development and long-term social stability. He said China has successfully achieved its first centenary goal of fully building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and is now forging ahead with confidence toward its second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country. After long-term exploration and practice, he said, the system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has demonstrated tremendous strengths, the modernization of the country's governance system and capacity continues to improve, and the historical process of achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is irreversible.
"We are extremely proud of the world-renowned achievements of New China, and full of confidence in the bright future of Chinese-style modernization," Xi said in his speech, stressing that "the historical process of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable." Multiple domestic and international outlets flagged this as the central message of the address — a signal of firm confidence in China's development path and prospects, delivered against a backdrop of sluggish global economic recovery and rising geopolitical uncertainty. State media including Xinhua and the People's Daily subsequently ran a series of commentary pieces describing the speech as having "sparked an enthusiastic response" and tying it to China's broader goal of fully building a modern socialist country.
On the issue of Taiwan, Xi struck a firm tone, stressing the need to resolutely oppose Taiwan independence separatist activities, oppose external interference in China's internal affairs, promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and advance the great cause of national reunification. The remarks continued Beijing's recent pattern of reiterating its Taiwan policy at major occasions, and were seen as reaffirming the baseline of its position amid a complex and sensitive cross-Strait climate with continued external involvement. Foreign outlets including Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Taiwan's Taipei Times gave prominent coverage to the remarks, reading them alongside Xi's simultaneous messaging of economic confidence as evidence that China is projecting development confidence abroad while giving no ground on questions of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The reception is among the most important political ceremonies on China's annual calendar, long viewed as a key window for observing the top leadership's governing philosophy and foreign-policy direction. This year's event came amid a complex and shifting landscape at home and abroad: domestically, China continues to push forward economic restructuring and high-quality development; internationally, China-US trade relations have entered a period of relative easing after several rounds of friction, though disputes over tariffs and technology controls persist, while China also has multiple ongoing trade friction cases with economies such as the European Union. Analysts say Xi's repeated emphasis on "confidence" and the nation's development being "unstoppable" was intended to reassure both the domestic public and overseas investors, helping stabilize market expectations.
Looking back over 77 years, New China has, since its founding in 1949, undergone a historic transformation from a country starting from near-nothing to one that has fully built a moderately prosperous society. The 1950s to 1970s laid the foundations of a basic industrial system; 1978 marked the start of reform and opening-up, propelling China's economy to become the world's second-largest; and over roughly the past decade, China has achieved notable progress in poverty alleviation, technological innovation and ecological development, declaring in 2021 the historic elimination of absolute poverty alongside the full completion of a moderately prosperous society. The "two miracles" Xi referred to — rapid economic development and long-term social stability — are a concise summary of this trajectory and a core element of the Communist Party's governing-legitimacy narrative.
Notably, the reception took place just ahead of the opening year of China's 15th Five-Year Plan. The Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, held in October 2025, approved recommendations for the plan covering 2026 to 2030, describing it as a pivotal five-year period bridging past achievements and future goals — the first five-year plan on the new journey of fully building a modern socialist country, aimed at laying a solid foundation for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035. Observers say Xi's repeated emphasis in the speech on the "second centenary goal" and the "modernization of the national governance system and capacity" amounted to a political statement tied to the strategic rollout of the 15th Five-Year Plan, intended to unify thinking and build confidence ahead of the new five-year development cycle about to get fully underway.
Following the reception, the full text of the speech was released with authorization via Xinhua and published in full on the Qiushi theoretical journal's website and major official media platforms. In the days that followed, central and local media rolled out a steady stream of analysis and commentary interpreting the speech's core message and its guiding significance for the country's next phase of development. At the same time, major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, along with numerous Chinese consulates and embassies abroad, held their own National Day receptions or celebrations around the same period, creating a coordinated wave of celebration at home and abroad that reinforced the signal the speech was intended to send to the international community.
International mainstream media interpreted the speech with differing emphases. Western wire services such as Reuters and the Associated Press largely focused on Xi's firm language on Taiwan, framing it as another public signal from Beijing amid ongoing cross-Strait tensions, while media in several Asian countries paid closer attention to the economic-confidence signal in the speech, linking it to China's recent moves on trade negotiations and industrial policy. On Chinese social media, phrases from the speech such as "unstoppable" and the "two miracles" quickly became widely discussed topics, with state media amplifying them through short videos and infographics to extend the speech's social reach. Overall, the reception and the speech that followed once again underscored the role of China's National Day ceremonies as an important political ritual — one that builds domestic consensus while declaring the country's position to the outside world.
