If this was a “normal” party congress then the speech by President Xi Jinping would have been his swansong.

But this is not a normal party congress. The speech instead felt more like a consolidation, an enshrining of sorts, of Xi’s vision, Xi’s path and Xi’s China.

The party congress is the most important political event here and this one is arguably the most important in decades. It happens once every five years and its main purpose is to select those who will lead the country for the coming term.

Day one always opens with a “work report” given by the current president, reflecting on the previous five years and setting out priorities for the next.

According to decades of precedent it should now be Xi’s time to step down, having completed two terms and been in power for 10 years.

But it’s almost certain this won’t happen. He successfully scrapped the constitution’s the two-term limit in 2018, meaning he could now, in theory, be leader for life.

This is why although today was, in theory, more about policy than personnel, all eyes were on the man delivering the speech.

And it was a speech that very much reiterated his central goals and ideas. Most importantly perhaps, his promised “national rejuvenation” for China – a highly nationalistic vision where China is unapologetic about its place in the world and the control exerted on its people.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

The message was clear: to have a strong China there must be a strong Communist Party, indeed under Xi it is a party that has reached much further and deeper into the lives of ordinary people than it has for decades.

Many Chinese people will have been listening closely to what he had to say about the continuing zero-COVID policy.

Anyone who was hoping to learn of it easing will have been left disappointed.

“We have adhered to the supremacy of the people and the supremacy of life,” Xi said, “We are committed to putting people and lives first, and adhere to dynamic zero-COVID.”

But in the context of the current ubiquity of zero-COVID regulations in people’s lives, and within a nearly two-hour long speech, it was a comparatively brief mention. It wasn’t dwelled on and it wasn’t returned to, an awareness perhaps of people’s frustration.

The loudest applause from the over 2,000 delegates came when he spoke about the “reunification” of Taiwan, the self-governing island that China sees as its own.

China will never renounce right to use force over Taiwan, President Xi Jinping declares

China’s 20th Party Congress is set to make history and President Xi could be ‘ruler for life’ – here’s why

Ukraine war dominates the West’s foreign policy agenda – but China remains ‘biggest long-term’ security threat | Adam Boulton

He reiterated a long-standing policy that China wants peaceful reunification but will “never promise to renounce the use of force” and will “reserve the option of taking all measures necessary”.

Hard language yes, but not necessarily any harder than what we’ve heard before, and certainly no commitment to any sort of timetable for invasion. War over Taiwan would be very costly to China, and it no doubt wants to keep its options open.

The economy was a big theme too with lots of focus on the “common prosperity” project which aims to tackle inequality, and the claimed “eradiation” of extreme poverty in China.

But there was little mention of some of the more extreme challenges the economy currently faces; a crisis in the housing sector and the zero-COVID stranglehold.

In all, it was a very confident speech from a very confident leader. Remember, when Xi came to power 10 years ago there were rumblings of discontent in China, over issues such as corruption and inequality.

In many ways he has delivered on a lot of what he promised; China is richer and stronger than it was, and corruption has been largely bought to heel.

But it is also a significantly more closed, more controlled and more paranoid place.

In the last decade, Xi has vastly increased his power and that of the state, he’s stepped up surveillance and censorship and born down on foreign ideas and investment.

He has brutally purged his rivals and has cracked down on the media, on private companies and on civil society.

The change he promised has been pursued not via reform but via control. And while he’s here to stay, so is this path for China.

Related posts:

Two people dead and at least 25 trapped by landslide in northern India ‘We have changed’: Taliban fighters claim Afghanistan now ‘safest country in the world’ Brother of Afghanistan’s former vice president ‘shot dead by Taliban’ in Panjshir province G7 foreign ministers to meet in Liverpool amid stark warning about risk of war with Russia ‘Russia looking for excuse to invade Ukraine’ – but US insists week of diplomacy has not failed Cool Runnings inspires first skier to represent Jamaica at Winter Olympics COVID-19 is more worrying than monkeypox, says Pfizer chief executive China’s treatment of Uyghur community ‘may constitute crimes against humanity’, UN says ‘Serious injuries’ after reported explosion at service station in Ireland What happened during the Cuban missile crisis – and why is it being compared to Russia’s war in Ukraine? Thailand prays for child victims of day care massacre that left 36 people dead Putin orders tighter security on key bridge from Russia to Crimea after explosion