(3 November 2022)

Good morning! Thank you for this opportunity to brief you on the recently concluded 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and give you some update on China-Africa and China-Liberia friendly and win-win cooperation. I would like to talk about 5 issues.

First, a brief account of the Congress

The Congress was convened from October 16 to 22 in Beijing. General Secretary of CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping, who is also President of the People’s Republic of China(PRC), delivered a report to the Congress on behalf of the 19th Central Committee.

In his report, General Secretary Xi Jinping comprehensively summarized the work of the past five years and the great changes in the first decade of the new era since the 18th National Congress of the CPC held in 2012.

The report clarified the mission and tasks of the CPC in the new journey of the new era, and pointed out that “From this day forward, the central task of the CPC will be to lead the Chinese people of all ethnic groups in a concerted effort to realize the Second Centenary Goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects and to advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through a Chinese path to modernization”.

The Congress elected a new Central Committee and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection(CCDI), and Xi Jinping was reelected as the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee. It also passed resolutions on the report of the 19th Central Committee, on the work report of the 19th CCDI, and on the Constitution of the CPC (Amendment).

Second, achievements in the past decade

In the past ten years, China’s economic strength has achieved a historic leap. The GDP has increased from 54 trillion yuan to 114 trillion yuan(roughly 17.7 trillion US dollars). China's GDP has come to account for 18.5 percent of the world economy, up 7.2 percentage points over the past 10 years. The world's second largest economy has become a major trading partner for over 140 countries and regions, leading the world in total volume of trade in goods. China's average contribution to world economic growth exceeds 30%, ranking first in the world.

The per capita GDP has risen from US$6,300 to over US$12,000, and people's lives have been improved in all aspects. China has won the largest poverty alleviation battle in human history. In less than ten years’ time, nearly 100 million rural people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, making significant contributions to the cause of global poverty reduction. Nearly 800 million rural people have shake off poverty since reform and opening-up started in China in 1978. Around 1,800 party members and cadres have lost their lives during the poverty alleviation battles.

I would like to especially highlight some new development in Xinjiang of China. In recent years, Xinjiang has enjoyed sustained economic growth, social harmony and stability, better living standards, cultures thriving like never before. GDP in Xinjiang has an average annual growth rate of around 7 percent. All remaining 3.09 million impoverished people have been lifted out of poverty. All ethnic groups, regardless of their populations, have equal legal status and enjoy freedom of religious belief and various rights in accordance with the law, including participating in the management of state affairs, receiving education, using their own languages, and preserving their traditional culture. The lies and disinformation fabricated by some Western countries at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly Third Committee session about so-called “genocide”, “forced labour” and “forced sterilization” are nothing but a political attempt to use Xinjiang-related issues to smear and contain China and are doomed to fail.

China has also joined the ranks of the world's innovators with breakthroughs in some core technologies in key fields.