China Marks 77th Anniversary as Xi Shifts Taiwan Rhetoric
The People’s Republic of China celebrated its 77th founding anniversary on October 1, 2026, with events spanning from the flagship flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square to gatherings in major cities and rural communities. The centerpiece was a keynote address by President Xi Jinping at a National Day reception the evening before at the Great Hall of the People, where he highlighted economic resilience and “one country, two systems”—and notably hardened his language on Taiwan.
According to Xinhua, the anniversary arrived in a year layered with symbolic weight: 2026 also marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s Long March victory, and the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
A Nationwide Commemoration
The flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square took place at 6:10 a.m. on October 1, with the national flag raised to the “March of the Volunteers” as onlookers stood at attention. Ceremonies were held simultaneously across the country, including a 9:00 a.m. raising at Lhasa’s Potala Palace square.
Xinhua’s national roundup described scenes from Beijing to the revolutionary base of Yan’an to the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in the northeast, where local families hosted visiting tourist families for the holiday. In Chongqing, more than a thousand flags lined the city’s two rivers and four banks, and 5,000 drones formed celebratory formations over the skyline.
The holiday also showcased infrastructure milestones, including several new high-speed rail lines that opened in the weeks before National Day, connecting the revolutionary heritage site of Yan’an to the national network.
Xi’s Address: Two Miracles and the Second Centenary Goal
Speaking at the September 30 reception before approximately 800 Chinese and foreign guests, Xi framed the anniversary around the “two miracles” of rapid economic development and long-term social stability—a governing narrative repeatedly invoked by the Party since the 19th Party Congress in 2017.
“Over the past 77 years, our Party has united and led the people in unremitting struggle, creating the two miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability, realizing the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and striding forward toward the second centenary goal,” Xi said, according to the official transcript published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On the economy, Xi said the country had “withstood pressure, moving toward the new and better, demonstrating strong resilience and vitality,” a reference to the strain of a slowing growth environment and the launch of the 15th Five-Year Plan.
Premier Li Qiang presided over the reception, with Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang, Li Xi, and Han Zheng also in attendance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
A Harder Line on Taiwan
The most closely watched passage of Xi’s speech concerned cross-Strait relations. Xi said China must “deepen cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation, resolutely crack down on ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, oppose foreign interference, promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations, and advance the great cause of national reunification.”
The phrasing represented a shift. As Deutsche Welle noted, Xi had described “Taiwan independence” forces with the verb “resolutely oppose” in the prior year’s speech, whereas this year he used “resolutely crack down on.” DW also observed that Xi explicitly invoked “peaceful reunification,” a formulation that differed from the previous year’s emphasis on “resolutely safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The shift came just days after Xi’s state visit to the United States and his second meeting of the year with President Donald Trump in Washington. According to DW, Xi said during that visit that China hoped the U.S. would “prudently handle the Taiwan issue” and more clearly state its opposition to Taiwan independence.
DW further reported that Taiwan’s government has grown concerned that U.S. and Chinese historical narratives are converging—particularly around a shared “World War II allies” framing—potentially at Taiwan’s expense. The report also cited an unconfirmed NPR account that the U.S. side temporarily removed the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty from a National Archives display before Xi’s visit, reportedly due to Chinese objections.
Institutional Messaging: The People’s Daily Editorial
The day after the reception, the People’s Daily published a front-page editorial striking a triumphalist tone, crediting the Party with having written “the most magnificent epic of Chinese-style modernization in the process of world modernization.”
The editorial linked the anniversary to the upcoming 20th Central Committee’s Fifth Plenary Session, which it said would study the persistent advancement of full and rigorous Party self-governance. It also invoked the 90th anniversary of the Long March, declaring that “the new journey is a new Long March.”
Analysis: A Calendar Built for Messaging
2026’s stacked anniversaries provide the Party with an unusually rich set of legitimizing symbols. The Long March metaphor, in particular, serves a dual purpose—it connects present-day economic challenges to a foundational story of endurance while framing policy continuity as historical destiny.
The 15th Five-Year Plan, which Xi positioned as both a domestic blueprint and a “cooperation list” for the world, anchors the economic messaging. By emphasizing “new quality productive forces” and resilience under pressure, the leadership is seeking to reassure both domestic audiences and international observers that slower growth does not signal strategic drift.
On Taiwan, the rhetorical hardening arrives against a backdrop of persistent U.S.-China friction. Beijing’s shift from “oppose” to “crack down on” does not, by itself, signal a change in operational policy—but it does raise the baseline of pressure in official discourse, and it signals that Beijing intends to keep the Taiwan issue central in its dealings with Washington.
What to Watch
Attention now turns to the 20th Central Committee’s Fifth Plenary Session, whose agenda on Party self-governance may offer further signals about leadership priorities. On the cross-Strait front, observers will watch whether the sharper language on “Taiwan independence” is matched by concrete action, and how the United States calibrates its public position on Taiwan in the wake of the late-September Xi-Trump meeting.
For now, the 77th anniversary served as both a celebration and a carefully staged platform—one that projected confidence at home while sharpening the edges of China’s most sensitive foreign policy dispute.