Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to build a “great wall of steel” in the first speech of a new presidential term

(CNN) Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday vowed to boost national security and build the military into a “big wall of steel”, in his first speech of his former third term as president.

Speaking at the conclusion of the annual meeting of China’s sealing parliament, Xi stressed the need for comprehensive modernization of national defense and the military.

“(We must) build the People’s Liberation Army into a great wall of steel that effectively protects national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Xi told some 3,000 delegates from the National People’s Congress.

Shi, 69, was Unanimously endorsed by the National People’s Congress as China’s president for another five-year term in a formal and ceremonial vote on Friday, making him the longest-serving head of state of Communist China since its founding in 1949.

At the beginning of his speech on Monday, Xi thanked the delegates for reappointing him.

“This is the third time that I hold the high office as president. The trust of the people is the biggest driving force for me to move forward, and it is also a heavy responsibility on my shoulders,” he said.

Like his many previous speeches, Xi has taken on a nationalist tone, citing the hardships China has suffered at the hands of “bullying foreign powers” in modern times, and noting how the Communist Party has led the country to “erasing national humiliation.”

“The Chinese people have become masters of their own destiny,” he said. “The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered an irreversible historical process.”

According to Xi, the “core” of this renewal is “national unification”, that is, the “reunification” of Taiwan with mainland China.

The Chinese Communist Party claims self-rule democracy in Taiwan as part of its territory, even though it never controlled it, and refuses to rule out the use of force.

Under Xi, Beijing has intensified its economic, diplomatic and military pressure on the island’s democracy. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Beijing has not condemned, has also heightened fears that Xi may be looking to do something similar in the coming years.

“We must… people.

Xi also called on China to better coordinate development and security.

“Security is the foundation of development, and stability is a prerequisite for prosperity,” he said.

During the first decade of his rule, Xi unleashed sweeping reforms on the Chinese military to make it a modern fighting force, and built its navy to become the largest in the world.

China’s annual military budget will by 7.2% this year to nearly 1.55 trillion yuan ($224 billion), amid rising geopolitical tensions and regional arms race.

He also consolidated his control over both the military and civilian arms of the government, becoming China’s most assertive and dominant leader in a generation.

The focus on bolstering security and the military comes as China’s relations with the United States are at their lowest point in decades, with tensions rising across sectors from trade and technology to geopolitics, especially the future of Taiwan.

Last week, in unusually direct remarks, Xi accused the United States of leading Western countries to “contain and suppress” China and make it “unprecedentedly serious challenges.”

Xi’s new foreign minister, Chen Gang, warned that if the United States did not “put the brakes on,” the two superpowers would surely slide into “conflict and confrontation.”