Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to identify reunification with Taiwan as a long-term goal of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at a congress starting on October 16, Beijing-based sources told Japan’s Kyodo. agency, reports Agerpres.

According to party and government sources, Xi Jinping plans to announce that reunification is necessary for the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” to take place in the first half of this century.

The congress, which takes place every five years, is expected to hand Xi Jinping a third consecutive term as China’s leader. The two-term limit was removed from China’s Constitution in 2018, paving the way for a lifetime president.

The Kyodo news agency believes the Beijing leader will use the reunification as a justification for a longer period at the head of the state and the CCP.

At the previous congress, in 2017, the president stated that the annexation of Taiwan, de facto independent since 1949, is one of the historical tasks of the Communist Party, but he did not present a detailed program in this regard.

Beijing considers Taiwan a rebel province of China and does not rule out the use of force for unification.

China’s relationship with the government in Taipei has been strained since 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen, a representative of the Democratic Progressive Party, was elected president of Taiwan.

In an October report on the activities of Congress, Xi Jinping’s achievements over the past ten years are to be presented as “great transformations”, according to sources cited by the agency. To compile the document, Xi has received input from regional CCP officials, government agencies and the military since the summer. The final version will be adopted at the seventh plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Party, convened on October 9 in Beijing.