Xi Jinping vows to protect 'every inch' of China's territory as President prepares to rule for life

President delivers fervently nationalistic speech before 3,000 members of National People's Congress

China’s President Xi Jinping vowed to protect “every inch” of his country’s territory in a nationalistic speech which saw him claim that his nation was ready to “fight bloody battles” against its enemies.

In his closing speech to the annual National People’s Congress he said that Taiwan would face the “punishment of history” for any attempt at separatism, while in an apparent warning to the US, he said any efforts to split China were “doomed to fail”.

His comments came after last week’s decision by Donald Trump to sign legislation that encouraged US officials to meet their Taiwanese counterparts – a move that infuriated China, which views the self-ruled island as a wayward Chinese province.

The Chinese people are united in their belief that “every inch of our great motherland absolutely cannot and absolutely will not be separated from China”, Mr Xi told 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress.

He said the mainland would continue to promote “peaceful unification” with Taiwan, despite the island’s 23 million residents being strongly in favour of maintaining their independence.

The 64-year-old is set to shape the country’s future for the coming decades after the Communist Party abolished presidential term limits to allow him to rule indefinitely.

Mr Xi stressed the absolute leadership of the party – of which he is head – in all aspects of Chinese life.

He said his country would promote “high quality” development that values innovation over speed of growth.

Invoking China’s historical achievements in governance and culture, he stressed the importance of national unity as it strove to reach new goals in poverty alleviation and economic development in coming years.

“I believe that as long as the more than 1.3 billion Chinese people ceaselessly carry forward this great creative spirit, we can certainly create one miracle after another,” he said.

He also pledged to expand the Belt and Road, his signature foreign policy initiative which aims to connect Europe with Asia by building ports, bridges and railways.

In an apparent response to the project’s critics, he said China wasn’t seeking hegemony and insisted his country’s development “does not pose a threat to any country”.

He said: “Only those who habitually threaten others will look at everyone else as threats.”

His speech came at the end of a 16-day legislative session that had earlier approved a range of new appointments, including that of key Xi ally, Wang Qishan, as vice president.

New ministers were also appointed and a law passed establishing a powerful new anti-corruption body to oversee the party and civil service.

However, it was dominated by the party’s decision to remove a constitutional two-term limit on the presidency.

While delegates overwhelmingly supported the move critics have claimed it raises concerns about a return to one-man-rule – and greater political repression within an already highly controlled country.

“There is a distinct danger now that there may well be a return to the Maoist style of leadership symbolised by the dissolution of collective responsibility and the concentration of power under one person,” said Joseph Cheng, a long-time observer of Chinese politics now retired from the City University of Hong Kong.

Additional reporting by Associated Press