Xi Jinping leads China on new journey

Xi has close ties with the military and knows its operations well. He initiated the earth-shattering military reform, in a bid to build the People's Liberation Army (PLA) into world-class armed forces.

Xi reiterated the principle that the Party commands the gun. A number of high-ranking military officers were punished for violating Party discipline and the law. Xi improved the system of the Central Military Commission (CMC) chairman assuming overall responsibility. A new military structure has been established with the CMC exercising overall leadership, the theater commands responsible for military operations, and the services focusing on developing capabilities.

The PLA was steered to focus on strengthening its combat capability. It has also improved command systems and capacity for joint operations, working hard to address "peacetime ills."

As the top commander, Xi reviewed armed forces at grand parades five times, two of which were organized in the sea. Over the past decade, China unveiled two homegrown aircraft carriers. The fifth-generation stealth fighter aircraft, J-20, was commissioned. China also took the lead in hypersonic weapon research. The Chinese military today has the determination and ability to safeguard China's sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity, to provide strategic support for national rejuvenation, and to make even greater contributions to world peace and development, according to Xi.

Media outlets described Xi as the leader who is making China strong. They said he has solved a great number of problems that had long gone unsolved and secured many accomplishments of major significance for the future. Xi's contributions are ground-breaking and unique, exerting a global influence, they said.

In October 2017, Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era was officially instituted at the 19th CPC National Congress as a guiding principle. The thought was enshrined in the CPC Constitution and China's Constitution.

David Ferguson, who edited the English translation of four volumes of "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China", said poverty alleviation, the Belt and Road, and the environmental cleanup all fit in Xi's thought and they fit at the grassroots level where ideas become action, driving the historic changes over the past decade.

In 2016, Xi's core position on the Party Central Committee and in the whole Party was established at the sixth plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee.

"To me, this means responsibility," Xi said, pledging to devote all his time and energy to the job so that he can live up to the trust the Party and the people place in him.

In 2021, the Party's third historical resolution says Xi's core position and the guiding role of Xi's thought are of decisive significance for driving forward the historic process of national rejuvenation.

A resolution adopted at the 20th CPC National Congress says that the establishment of Xi's core position and the guiding role of Xi's thought has enabled the Party to successfully resolve the acute problems and challenges undermining its long-term governance, the security and stability of the country, and the wellbeing of the people, to remove serious hidden dangers in the Party, the country and the military, and to ultimately set the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on an irreversible historical course.

Theorists said Xi has provided answers to the questions of China, of the world, of the people and of the times. He has further drawn the blueprint for China's development, and his thought is considered a new breakthrough in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and the needs of the times.

Volker Tschapke, honorary president of the Prussian Society in Germany, said Xi's thought is "fascinating. "Xi is leading China toward modernity, which is very different from the Western model, Tschapke said, adding that people may one day realize that China's path would take humanity to a better future.