The rally featured a military flyover, where people waved Chinese flags and sang patriotic songs-in some ways reminiscent of the mass activities organized by Mao Zedong, the founding leader of the Communist Party of China. Xi Jinping even wore the gray button-down suit Mao liked and spoke on the same balcony on the roof of Tiananmen Square, where the revolutionary leader announced the beginning of communist rule in 1949.

According to the official Xinhua News Agency, more than 70,000 people attended the event on Thursday.

Xi in Hong Kong and Taiwan

Xi Jinping, the leader of the party who is considered to be considering a third term from next year, received the greatest applause. He said that the party had restored China’s dignity after being conquered by Western powers and Japan in the 19th and 20th centuries for decades. In recent decades, it has become the second largest economy in the world.

“The Chinese people will never allow any foreign forces to bully, oppress and enslave us. Anyone who attempts to do so will face the consequences of decapitation and bloodshed before the Iron Great Wall of 1.4 billion Chinese people,” Xi Jinping said. The restriction on his time in office has been lifted, which has led to speculation that he can rule for life like Mao Zedong.

The strong language seems to be aimed at speeding up and broadcasting to domestic audiences. The strongest element-the mention of head beatings and bloodshed-was excluded from the official media’s English translation of this sentence.

Xi Jinping announced that China had restored order in Hong Kong after anti-government protests in 2019, and reiterated the Communist Party’s determination to place autonomous Taiwan under its control.

Both of these policies have been widely criticized by Western democracies. They accused the Communist Party of abusing its power in the country, including detaining more than 1 million Uyghurs and other mainly Muslim minorities in northwestern Xinjiang for political re-education, and imprisoning or intimidating those whom it sees as potential opponents. From Tibet to Hong Kong.

As part of the continued suppression of anti-government protests in Hong Kong that have long enjoyed freedoms that the mainland did not have, Hong Kong police blocked Victoria Park on Thursday. In the past, the park was the starting point of the annual democracy march held on July 1st, the 1997 anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to China.

The gap between China and the United States is growing

Xi Jinping also stated that the party will retain absolute control over the military and now has the world’s second-largest annual budget after the United States. “We will build the People’s Army into a world-class military with more powerful capabilities and more reliable means. Safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests,” he said.

Robert Sartre of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University said that Xi Jinping seems to be preparing for a long-term struggle between China and the United States. He said that China is pursuing “its very self-centered policy goals, at the expense of others and the current world order.”

China and the United States are increasingly divided over the former’s claims over almost the entire South China Sea and the uninhabited islands held by the US ally Japan. The United States has also strengthened relations with Taiwan and arms sales to discourage China from seizing this autonomous democratic island by force. Elsewhere, Chinese and Indian forces clashed over disputed borders in the mountains last year.

When commenting on the anniversary, Taiwan accused China of attempting to subvert the international order and its ambition to become a regional and even global hegemon. “Democracy, freedom, human rights, and the rule of law are the core values ??of Taiwanese society, and there is a considerable gap between them and the other’s authoritarian political system,” the government statement said.

No serious challenge to the party’s rule

The Tiananmen Square incident was the culmination of several weeks of rituals, demonstrating the role played by the Communist Party in greatly improving the quality of life and expanding China’s economic, political, and military influence. These achievements, coupled with severe suppression of any critics, helped the party continue to hold power.

The party’s official narrative concealed past errors or current controversies, such as the mass famines of the Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the violent class struggle and xenophobia of the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, and the military intervention in 1989. The democratic movement in Tiananmen Square.

Instead, it focuses on development, stability, and efficiency—including its success in controlling COVID-19—in stark contrast to the political quarrels, poor epidemic control, and social conflicts in multi-party democracies that it portrays.

Looking up at the sky, the crowd cheered military planes flying over the sky bridge, including helicopters organized into the “100” and the Chinese J-20 stealth flying squadron. The last group of jets made blue, yellow, and red trails in the sky.

The party’s rule does not face serious challenges, but it is difficult to measure the degree of public support, because few people dare to criticize it for fear of being arrested. Yang Shaocheng, a retired construction worker, said he was proud of the achievements of his motherland under communism.

“I think the Communist Party can persist for a thousand or ten thousand years,” Yang said.