Xi stresses giving full play to CPPCC's political advantage

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday called for further giving full play to the salient political advantage of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in developing whole-process people's democracy.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting celebrating the 75th founding anniversary of the CPPCC held in Beijing.

It has been proven through practice over the past 75 years that the CPPCC is an innovative political system involving political parties, prominent individuals without any party affiliation, people's organizations, and people from all walks of life and all ethnic groups under the leadership of the CPC, Xi said in his speech.

The CPPCC has distinctive political value in the development of political systems, he said.

Xi summarized key aspects of the Party's important thinking on strengthening and improving the work of the CPPCC. These include upholding the Party's overall leadership over the CPPCC, giving play to the CPPCC's role as a specialized consultative body, and upholding and improving the country's new type of socialist political party system, among others.

Xi stressed that consultative democracy is an integral part of whole-process people's democracy and represents a distinctive feature and advantage of China's socialist democracy.

Looking ahead, Xi urged the CPPCC to focus on improving the mechanism for consultative democracy, introducing more diverse forms of consultation and expanding more platforms for consultations, and fostering a good atmosphere conducive to the broad-based, multilevel and institutionalized development of consultative democracy.

He said the CPPCC should carry forward its fine tradition, bear in mind its political responsibilities, give full play to the role of the CPPCC as a specialized consultative body, as to rally the support of the people, build broad consensus and bring together wisdom and strength for advancing Chinese modernization.

Xi emphasized strengthening political guidance to intellectuals who are not CPC members, people from the non-public sector, emerging social groups and religious communities, highlighting more efforts to foster greater unity with overseas Chinese, thereby making concerted efforts to build China into a strong country and promote the national rejuvenation.

He also stressed the importance of building a capable and disciplined team of CPPCC members who understand the CPPCC work of political consultation, excel at deliberating on state affairs, and uphold high ethical standards.

He said the CPC committees at all levels should enhance their leadership over the work of the CPPCC and support it in performing its duties.

"Over the past 75 years, the Communist Party of China has united and led the people of all ethnic groups in their unremitting efforts to make great achievements that have impressed the world. Chinese modernization is advancing across the board, and the Chinese nation is making unstoppable strides towards great rejuvenation. We believe that under the strong leadership of the CPC, the CPPCC will surely make new and greater contributions to building a great country and advancing national rejuvenation on all fronts through Chinese modernization," Xi said.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi, as well as Vice President Han Zheng, attended the meeting.

Wang Huning, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, presided over the meeting.

Xi stresses giving full play to CPPCC's political advantage

U.S. President Donald Trump's rollout of sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" may lead to global economic recession and will exacerbate inflation in the country, said a Spanish scholar.

Amid widespread opposition, Trump on Wednesday signed two executive orders, imposing a 10-percent "minimum baseline tariff" on all imported goods and higher rates on certain trading partners.

Felix Valdivieso, a professor at IE Business School, told China Central Television (CCTV) that following the imposition of the tariffs, all consumers in the world will feel the pinch.

"These measures will have global economic impacts and may even lead to a recession. Analysts at Moody's Ratings have pointed out that these tariffs will drive up prices. Price increases will directly affect consumers' personal income and spending power, as well as their purchasing power," Valdivieso said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday announced his government will implement a 14.1 billion euro plan to support the economy in the face of Trump's tariffs.

He called the tariffs a "unilateral attack", saying they will harm the interests of people and businesses in both the EU and the United States itself, an opinion shared by Valdivieso.

"In other words, the U.S. is trying to make money by imposing tariffs, which will also drive up prices of domestic products. According to estimates by American analysts, the price of each car in the U.S. will go up by about 1,000 to 2,000 U.S. dollars after the tariffs are imposed. With car exports to the U.S. blocked, there will be two consequences for Europe. One is that Europe will have to find other markets to sell cars. The other is that it will have to bear the consequences of the decline in car sales in some way, so it has to reduce car production lines and lay off employees," he said.

Trump's tariffs may lead to global recession, exacerbate US inflation: Spanish scholar