BEIJING —

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday praised the ruling Communist Party's fight against COVID-19 while reiterating support for the private sector and allowing markets to play a key role even as China fine-tunes a "socialist economic system."

Speaking at the start of the congress, where he is widely expected to win a third term in leadership, cementing his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong, Xi also praised the party's takeover of Hong Kong, which has been rocked by anti-government protests in 2019.

The gathering of roughly 2,300 delegates from across the country, held twice in a decade, began in the sprawling Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square under tight security and under blue skies after days of smog in the Chinese metropolis.

On Taiwan, Xi Jinping said: "We have definitely waged a great struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our firm determination and ability to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan's independence."

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