Xi's answer to trade war starts with Party supremacy

Speech on 'reform and opening up' underscores turn back to state control

20181218N Xi speech

The Communist Party leads everything in China, President Xi Jinping said in a speech Tuesday to mark the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's "reform and opening up" program. © AP

ISSAKU HARADA, Nikkei staff writer

BEIJING -- The Communist Party must firmly maintain leadership in all areas of work, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared Tuesday in a speech that, while intended to mark the 40th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's "reform and opening up," seemed to represent a departure from some of its core ideas.

Although the leader spoke of the need to continue Deng's economic reform policy, the defiant tone of his speech signaled that tensions with the U.S. over trade, technology and global influence were likely to continue into the foreseeable future.

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