Dressed in a grey Mao-style suit Xi Jinping, BBC said, delivered a defiant speech at the event marking the centenary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party on July 1. He also mentioned the CCP is now 95 million strong. The 100th-anniversary celebrations on July 1 morning saw a military jet fly-past led by China's latest ZL-10 helicopters in formation of '100', hundred cannon salutes and patriotic songs played. A carefully vetted crowd was in attendance in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, many of whom were not wearing masks. Xi Jinping reiterated the role of the party in modern China, saying that it has been central to the country's growth and that attempts to separate it from the people would "fail". After saying “As we fought to consolidate our leadership over the country, we have in fact been fighting to earn the people’s support,” he declared that “Through tenacious struggle, the party and the Chinese people showed the world that the Chinese people have stood up, and that the time when the Chinese nation could be bullied and abused by others was gone forever.” He asserted that "Only socialism can save China, and only socialism with Chinese characteristics can develop China," adding that "we will never allow anyone to bully, oppress or subjugate China". "Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people." He praised the Chinese people for the "new world" they had created and said that this world could not have come into being without the Party. Xi Jinping also made the palpably hollow remark that: “We have never bullied the people of any other country and we never will.” In  a remark seen as aimed at the US, Xi Jinping said Beijing would not allow "sanctimonious preaching". He referred to Taiwan and asserted that China maintains an "unshakeable commitment" to unification with Taiwan and "No one should underestimate the resolve, the will and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity." On Hong Kong and Macau, he said both retain a "high degree of autonomy" and should "accurately implement the principles of 'One Country, Two Systems". At the end of the ceremony, the crowd sang a song called "Without the Communist Party There Would Be No New China".

(Comment: China's authoritative news agency Xinhua on July 1, mentioned that the CCP has 95,148,000 members as of July 1. The CCP had officially announced on March 23 that there would be no military parade as part of the CCP's centenary celebrations. Their participation shows a reversal of the earlier decision possibly to assuage PLA morale and publicly demonstrate that the Party is in charge of the PLA.)