Foreign countries that 'bully' China will meet a 'great wall of steel,' says Xi

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Foreign countries that 'bully' China will meet a 'great wall of steel,' says Xi during Communist Party centenary

Beijing (CNN)In an event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party Thursday, President Xi Jinping claimed that only the party could ensure China's continued stability, and any attempt to divide it from the country would fail. "Without the Communist Party, there will be no new China," Xi said.

Speaking in front of a reported crowd of 70,000 at a highly-choreographed ceremony in Tiananmen Square, Xi delivered a strongly nationalist speech in which he positioned China's rise as a "historical inevitability," vowing it would no longer be "bullied, oppressed or subjugated" by foreign countries, to thundering applause and cheers.

"Anyone who dares to try, will find their heads bashed bloody against a great wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people," Xi said in comments that later appeared to be softened in the government's own English language translation.

Xi's speech capped an occasionally rainy morning of celebrations in the capital to mark the party's centenary, including patriotic songs, speeches from officials and flyovers by the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

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