President Xi lauds Jiang Zemin's contributions at birth commemoration

The birth centenary commemoration of late leader Jiang Zemin was held at the Great Hall of the People this morning.

President Xi Jinping, also General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, delivered a speech and urged the party to emulate Jiang's unwavering political faith, deep commitment to the people, farsighted strategic vision and the audacity of his resolute and decisive leadership.

Dominating the centre of the commemorative conference was a giant portrait of Jiang Zemin, under which President Xi and other top leaders filed into the venue. The national anthem was played and sung.

Xi retrospected Jiang's enduring legacy, and hailed him as an outstanding leader who held unrivalled prestige across every echelon of the Party, the military and all ethnic people.

Xi framed Jiang's life as both glorious and combative for his indelible contributions in successfully steering socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century.

The president referenced the 1989 Tiananmen Square turmoil in his address.

He noted at the time, Jiang aligned with the central command to maintain stability in Shanghai and was entrusted with a fateful appointment to the helm of the Party and the military.

Xi underscored the imperative to emulate Jiang's rock-solid political conviction.

In the storm of shifting global landscapes alongside severe domestic political unrest of the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jiang stood unwavering in keeping economic development as the nation's core anchor.

Xi also said Jiang held the line on the Four Cardinal Principles, navigated reforms and rectifications while pushing back on the diplomatic front to defend China's independence, dignity, security and stability.

Turning to the issues of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, Xi lauded Jiang's visionary strategic mind for orchestrating the smooth handovers of Hong Kong and Macau, and steering both sides of the Taiwan Strait toward the 1992 Concensus which embodies the one-China principle.

Xi further urged the leadership to learn from Jiang's immense political fortitude, particularly when he marshalled the nation's forces to weather the tides of the Asian financial crisis and clench a comprehensive victory against the devastating floods in 1998.

All of these, as Xi put it, acted as the ultimate ballast enabling China's reform and opening-up as well as socialist modernisation to forge ahead and make steady, long-term progress.

Xi pointed out they must heighten awareness of potential risks and establish bottom-line thinking to better balance development and security on the new journey, and actively tackle challenges with a tenacious spirit of struggle.

He drew upon a poem by Jiang, "The grand vista has been created through innumerable trials, just as all achievements are carved from enduring toil," to inspire a relentless drive for creating a better life for the people and writing a more historic chapter for the Chinese nation.

The assembly was marked by the presence of a number of former Party and state leaders including Wen Jiabao, Zhang Dejiang, Li Zhanshu, Li Lanqing, Li Changchun, Zhang Gaoli, Yu Zhengsheng, Jia Qinglin, Wang Yang, Zeng Qinghong, He Guoqiang and Wang Qishan.

Former CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao was absent.

The commemoration capped off as the stirring strains of "The Internationale" filled the hall.