As a university student in the early 1970s I was shocked by grinding poverty that I encountered elsewhere in Europe, such as in Spain and Portugal where hundreds of thousands were forced to emigrate to central and northern Europe to make a precarious living as labourers.

I still remember my kindergarten and primary school classmates from low-income families who – unlike me – had hardly any toys to play with and whose parents were struggling to make ends meet. We are of the same generation that has been confronted with global politics’ ups and downs over the past 70 decades such as the world’s economic development challenges, wars and social modernisation efforts. “The people’s trust has been my greatest source of strength to go forward and also the greatest responsibility on my shoulders.”īoth Xi and I were born in June 1953. “It is my third time to take on this noble position of the president of the People’s Republic of China. He commenced his speech by expressing his “heartfelt gratitude for the trust placed in me by all the deputies and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups. It was Xi’s first speech after his election as state president for a third five-year term. I think it was one of Xi’s best speeches that I have read. The speech was quite brief but very concise and succinct.

The English translation of his address, delivered in the Great Auditorium of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, comprises 1,458 words. President Xi Jinping’s pithy speech at the first session of the 14 th National People’s Congress (NPC) on Monday morning reminded me of William Shakespeare’s inspirational quote from act 2, scene 2 of Hamlet, spoken by Polonius, that “brevity is the soul of wit”.

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