Ahead of Communist Party plenum, Xi Jinping warns that China faces a ‘new Long March’

A strong and united party leadership is vital to victory, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech marking the 90th anniversary of the Long March.

Speaking days before an important Communist Party meeting known as the fifth plenum, Xi said the party managed to turn the tide of defeat into a path to victory 90 years ago because it rallied around the leadership of Mao Zedong.

By linking the Red Army’s historic endurance with today’s geopolitical struggles, Xi said China today faced a “new Long March” and had to learn how to navigate complex geopolitical pitfalls and fight for its interests.

At a high-profile commemoration marking the 90th anniversary of the Long March’s victory in Beijing on Thursday, Xi stressed that the historic survival and ultimate triumph of the Red Army hinged on establishing a firm political core – a historical lesson he framed as “indispensable” for China’s modern trajectory.

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“The great victory of the Red Army’s Long March was forged through the correct leadership of the party,” Xi was quoted by state news agency Xinhua as saying, invoking the 1935 Zunyi Conference as the pivotal turning point.

During that critical retreat, the party “began the formation of the first generation of central collective leadership with Comrade Mao Zedong at its core”, he said.

The move “opened a new phase in which the party independently solved the practical problems of the Chinese revolution and saved the party, the Red Army and the Chinese revolution at the most perilous hour”, he added.

History proved that establishing a strong central leadership core was the “decisive factor” in overcoming internal divisions and external obstacles, Xi continued.

The Long March was a strategic retreat by the Communist Red Army from 1934 to 1936 to evade Nationalist forces during the Chinese civil war, when they travelled about 10,000km (6,200 miles). The party frequently invokes the event as a symbol of its endurance, discipline and political unity.

Xi delivered his address just days ahead of the fifth plenum of the 20th Central Committee, scheduled for October 26 to 29 in Beijing. The committee is the party’s top political-executive organ.

The prominent political meeting is expected to focus on tightening party governance, internal discipline and political loyalty.

The current 205-member Central Committee has drawn unprecedented anti-corruption scrutiny. Of its full members, 35 have been either placed under investigation or stripped of their legislative seats, with many cited for disloyalty to the committee, according to the South China Morning Post’s calculations.

On Thursday, framing modern national ambitions through a historical lens, Xi defined the “new Long March” as China’s present-day journey towards becoming a fully modernised socialist power and achieving the “great rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation through Chinese modernisation.

Transitioning from historical reflection to present-day challenges, Xi warned that the path ahead would not be smooth. He called on the party, military and public to prepare for severe external headwinds.

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“On the new journey, facing complex international and domestic situations, we must dare to fight and be good at fighting,” Xi said.

He also called on the entire country to bolster its resolve and prepare to withstand “high winds, raging waves and even dangerous storms”, emphasising a need to balance national development with national security.

He issued the warning against a backdrop of escalating global turmoil and sustained friction with Western powers.

Sino-US relations remain tense amid trade disputes, tech decoupling pressures and strategic volatility across the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. For its part, Beijing has increasingly promoted self-reliance and internal solidarity.

On Thursday, major state media outlets went all out in publishing commentaries echoing Xi’s central message.

Party mouthpiece People’s Daily said that centralising authority around the party’s core – a political foundation known as the “two establishes” – was the fundamental guarantee for maintaining political stability, driving economic reform and advancing Chinese modernisation through turbulent international waters.

Meanwhile, PLA Daily’s editorial urged the armed forces to uphold absolute party control over the military, ramp up combat readiness and execute military modernisation targets ahead of the army’s centenary in 2027, when Beijing aims to transform the military into a world-class force.

Across the country, local government authorities and cultural institutions marked the 90th anniversary with commemorative events, thematic exhibitions and public educational activities.

In Beijing, the Military Museum of the Chinese People’s Revolution launched a major exhibition featuring rare historical artefacts, interactive digital displays and archival documents from the 10,000km trek.

Similar memorial rallies, youth symposia and red-tourism cultural festivals were hosted across historical sites along the Long March route, including Zunyi, Yanan and Yudu, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to honour the historic milestone, according to Chinese media reports.