Chinese leader Xi Jinping delivered a speech Monday on the opening day of a major meeting of the ruling Communist Party to approve a draft plan laying out its goals for the country over the next five years.

BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Sunday for efforts to advance "reunification" in a message of congratulations to the new leader of Taiwan's main opposition party, whose election took place amid accusations of interference by Beijing.

Xi Jinping seems to believe that only his continued rule can secure China’s rise. But as he ages, choosing a successor will become riskier and more difficult.

One of China’s most important meetings begins Monday, as its top leader Xi Jinping and other ruling Communist Party elites gather to map the country’s goals for the next five years

China has expelled two of the country’s most senior military officials from the Communist Party, including a member of the Politburo, as President Xi Jinping widens his anti-corruption drive.

China also ousted eight other high-ranking military commanders, as leader Xi Jinping dials up a crackdown on corruption and disloyalty in the armed forces.

But much of China’s historical evolution continues to defy Western understanding, and many of its leaders remain tantalizing conundrums—few more so than Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and the president of the People’s Republic of China.

Amid continuing tightening of Xi Jinping’s vice-like grip on China, the Communist Party has begun its ‘fourth plenum’ conference to rubber-stamp his economic agenda for the next five years.