Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged Sunday to turn China into a "great modern socialist country" that represents a "new choice" for humanity, as he opened a Chinese Communist Party meeting where he is expected to secure a precedent-breaking third term.
From a lectern onstage at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi spoke without a mask for an hour and 45 minutes to open the twice-per-decade meeting that sets the national agenda for the next five years.