Xi calls for rallying working class

President Xi Jinping has called for pooling the strength of the country's working class and working people into a powerful force to make greater contributions in the new era, as China embarks on a new journey to build a great country and advance national rejuvenation.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks on Monday at a gathering to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and honor national model workers and exemplary individuals.

The federation, which was founded in 1925 with 540,000 members, is currently the world's largest labor union, with a membership of nearly 300 million.

Xi said that over the past century, under the leadership of the CPC, the federation has united and mobilized the working class to focus on the Party's key tasks in each historical period.

"The practice over the past 100 years has fully proved that the working class in our country is indeed the most solid and reliable class foundation of the CPC," he said.

Xi also spoke highly of Chinese trade unions' role as a bridge and link between the Party and the working people, saying that these unions are both representatives and defenders of the workers' interests.

"Regardless of how the conditions of the times and social groups develop and change, the position and role of the working class in our country must be unswervingly upheld; the fundamental policy of relying wholeheartedly on the working class must be unswervingly upheld; and the nature and functions of our trade unions must be unswervingly upheld," he said.

Xi urged trade unions to guide workers to tackle challenges in the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, forge ahead in developing emerging industries, and explore the cultivation of future industries, thus providing new momentum for the country's high-quality development.