President Xi Jinping has urged the Communist Party of China (CPC) members to show total loyalty to the party and serve the people ahead of the ruling party’s 100th anniversary on July 1.
Xi, also the CPC general secretary, urged all the members to firmly keep the loyalty and love for the party and the people close to their heart, turn loyalty into action, and “…dedicate everything, even your precious life, to the party and the people”.
Xi was speaking at a function where he conferred the July 1 Medal, the party’s highest honour, on model CPC members.
A total of 29 CPC members who have made “outstanding contributions” to the party and the people received the honour, some posthumously. This is the first time the medal has been awarded.
Among the awardees was Chen Hongjun, a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldier who died during a brawl with Indian soldiers in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020. Other recipients include soldiers, community workers and professionals in the arts and science.
In the run-up to its centenary celebrations, state-run media has said the CPC demonstrated its “…exemplary governance capability by leading the Chinese people in efficiently containing the Covid-19 outbreak and eliminating absolute poverty in the world’s most populous country”.
In the context of security, Beijing has left nothing to chance ahead of the July 1 events expected to be held at the city’s historic Tiananmen Square; it has been closed to the public since June 23 and will reopen on July 2.
The second and final comprehensive drill for the grand celebration at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square concluded last Sunday; it started at 8pm on Saturday and some 33,000 people took part.
“Measures are in place prohibiting the flying of any aerial objects that may affect the safety of flight activities during the celebration,” a state media report said.
Beijing has shut down traffic on various routes, decked streets in patriotic flower arrangements and national flags, and ramped up surveillance and security this week in preparation for the centenary event on July 1.
As part of the anniversary-week celebrations, the party also staged a gala performance on Monday night at the National Stadium, or “Bird’s Nest” as it is commonly called.
“Party leaders and foreign diplomats watched the extravaganza of song, dance and theatre which credited the party with guiding China’s rise into a great power over the past century,” Reuters news agency said.
“Darker parts in the party’s history, including a famine in the late 1950s, the decade-long cultural revolution, which started in the 1960s, and the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, were omitted from the show,” Reuters said.
“Without the Communist Party, there is no new China,” reads propaganda posters that have sprung up across the city.
