China's Communist Party Congress opens to endorse Xi's rule

Xi walked onstage to thunderous applause from the roughly 2,300 hand-picked attendees who had gathered at Beijing's Great Hall of the People for the event.

In an opening address lasting about 100 minutes, Xi promoted and defended a wide range of policies under his rule and said the Congress was taking place at a "critical moment" for the country.

Xi celebrated the party's continued efforts to eradicate Covid -- which are placing heavy curbs on people's lives and is hammering the nation's economy -- as a major achievement.

He said the approach had "protected people's safety and health to the highest degree".

Xi also highlighted as a success his graft crackdown, which has seen thousands of people jailed and critics have said has been used to crush dissent and opposition to his rule.

Xi said the anti-corruption campaign had eliminated "serious latent dangers" within the Communist Party, the military and the state.

"The fight against corruption has won an overwhelming victory and has been comprehensively consolidated," he said.

Xi also focused on two of China's most sensitive security and sovereignty issues at the start of speech -- in relation to Hong Kong, after democracy protests were crushed there, and Taiwan.

He lauded Hong Kong's transition from "chaos to governance", while his vow to "never commit to abandoning the use of force" on the self-ruled island of Taiwan drew rapturous applause.

In a speech that mostly focused on domestic issues, Xi told the delegates that China would "actively participate in global governance on climate change".

Xi also reiterated that China opposed a "Cold War mentality" in international diplomacy, but made no mention of frayed relations with the United States.

"China... resolutely opposes all forms of hegemony and power politics, opposes the Cold War mentality, opposes interfering in other countries' domestic politics, opposes double standards," he said.