THE people of China celebrated birthday of their great leader President Xi Jinping, who turned 67 this week, with a sense of pride as the country witnessed all-round development during his tenure and a process of reforms that is aimed at taking China to new heights of progress and development. Experts say ever since 2012, Xi has been at front and centre of China’s push to cement its position as a superpower, while also launching crackdown on corruption, a move that has won people’s trust.
The role that the President has played and the popularity he commands can be gauged by the fact that his ideas and thoughts are mentioned in the Constitution of China by name, an honour that had been reserved only to Mao Zedong until now. President Xi had once highlighted the achievements saying his country has upheld the underlying principle of pursuing progress while ensuring stability, risen to the challenges, pioneered and pushed ahead, and made historic achievements in reform by opening up and socialist modernization. Apart from investing heavily to make China an economic superpower, President Xi demonstrated foresightedness in modernizing the People’s Liberation Army, which has become an invincible force in safeguarding people’s wellbeing and defending the motherland and world peace. This was amply highlighted during the on-going confrontation with India when Chinese troops safeguarded interest of the country effectively and taught an unforgettable lesson to India. Despite conspiracies being hatched by some powers, China is proceeding ahead steadily on different fronts and moving closer to the centre stage of the world as a widely recognized promoter of world peace, contributor to global development and upholder of international order. Xi’s historic initiative of ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) is practical demonstration of his lofty vision of brining different regions and continents of the globe together to share the fruits of development and prosperity. As for progress made, it is even acknowledged by Western observers that under President Xi’s leadership the country has witnessed a kind of technological revolution, especially an IT revolution that has brought amazing changes to China. Attempts were made to scuttle the China’s march on the path of progress and development through measures like trade war and undue sanctions against technology giants like Huawei but these were tackled prudently by the Chinese leadership. Similarly, the visionary handling of the challenge thrown by Covid-19 has further enhanced stature of President Xi not just in China but also globally. Based on his glorious achievements, there are reasons to believe that the President would hopefully win another term in office to pursue his gigantic agenda.
