Xi’s report at the 20th Party congress signals continuation of aggressive foreign policy stance, security posture: Experts

Chinese President Xi Jinping hinted at the continuation of country’s aggressive foreign policy posture for the next five years as he presented his work report at the 20th party congress of the Chinese Communist Party where he is widely expected to be reaffirmed for a third term as the country’s leader. 

Experts said, even though Xi did not refer to any individual nations but he clearly signaled that China is likely to continue a more aggressive foreign policy as he touted China’s growing global clout and warned against “external attempts to suppress and contain” China.

Xi put special emphasis on upgrading China’s national security and intensifying troop’s combat preparedness, urging “a strong system of strategic deterrence,” which media reports said is a reference to the People’s Liberation Army’s dramatic expansion of its nuclear weapons capacity in the past two years. He also said China will increase the proportion of new-domain forces with new combat capabilities, and promote coordinated development and application of the network information system.

China has been vigorously upgrading its



capabilities in cyber/information warfare and space domain in last decade tenets of which were reflected in Xi's speech. In his speech he said, China will gain a good grasp of the characteristics of “informatized and intelligent warfare” and the laws that govern it. With a new military strategic guidance, China will develop strategies and tactics for a “people’s war”, he added.

“We will resolutely safeguard the security of China’s state power, systems and ideology — and build up security capacity in key areas,” Xi said during his speech. “We will crack down hard on infiltration, sabotage, subversion, and separatist activities by hostile forces.” Experts said the emphasis on national security and ‘comprehensive’ security is striking and may be seen as a justification for his continuation in his anticipated third term as rhetoric flew in the years lead up to the 20th party congress.

Rafaello Pantucci, Senior Fellow at S. Rajarathnam School of International politics in Singapore said that the speech signaled at the continuation of his policies and the messaging was more for domestic audience.