BEIJING — A top Chinese official called Saturday for continued efforts to rally non-mainland ethnic Chinese, including those overseas, around the country’s national interests and help realize President Xi Jinping’s “Chinese Dream” of national rejuvenation. He said he was seeking to “mobilize all the sons and daughters of (ethnic Chinese) to work together for the greater national interests and the realization of the Chinese Dream,” referring to Xi’s nationalist vision of China as the pre-eminent global power. China’s Communist Party has long claimed sovereignty over the self-governing island of Taiwan — and a degree of authority over all ethnic Chinese, regardless of nationality — but its attitude toward the Chinese diaspora has been a source of growing friction with foreign governments over the past year. The advisory body will continue working domestically to “create a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation,” including among religious minorities and the country’s poorest citizens, he said. The annual CPPCC meeting runs concurrently with the two-week session of the National People’s Congress, China’s rubber-stamp parliament.

Source: National Post March 03, 2018 09:22 UTC