China's President Xi Jinping on Tuesday expressed his eagerness to expand influence not only at home but abroad, while stirring nationalistic sentiment by pledging to achieve the "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

Xi, who was re-elected to a second five-year term as China's president by parliament Saturday, also pledged to step up efforts to give the country's military forces "world-class" status, a comment certain to stoke regional fears about greater Chinese assertiveness in nearby disputed waters.

The Chinese leader, meanwhile, warned the United States and Taiwan following a recent U.S. move to forge closer ties with the island that Beijing considers a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

Xi spoke at the closure of the 16-day annual session of the National People's Congress on Tuesday as concerns increased that China may slide into dictatorship, with him set to become president for life.

In the speech Xi indicated that he is keen to spread his "Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" worldwide as an alternative of Western values based on capitalism.

"China will continue to actively participate in the reform and construction of the global governance system," Xi said. "China will provide its "wisdom, idea and power to the world to promote peace, universal security, common prosperity and comprehensive openness."

Showing his nationalistic slant, Xi also promised to restore China's past glory and turn it into a "great modern socialist country" by the middle of the 21st century.

"Since modern times, the realization of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has become the greatest dream of the Chinese nation," Xi said.

"I believe that as long as more than 1.3 billion Chinese people keep carrying forward this great spirit of pursuing dreams, we can and will realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

He added that "history has proven and will continue to prove that only socialism can save China, and only upholding and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics can help achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

Xi's speech came after U.S. President Donald Trump last week signed legislation that will allow high-level officials from Taiwan to enter the United States and meet with their U.S. counterparts, despite China's strong opposition.

"It is the common aspiration of sons and daughters of the Chinese nation to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and to realize the complete reunification of the motherland," Xi said.

"Any actions and tricks to split the motherland are doomed to failure and will be condemned by people and punished by history," he added.

Taiwan has been governed separately from mainland China since a civil war in 1949 led to a split.

Earlier this month, China's congress agreed to remove from the country's Constitution the two-term limit for the president and vice president, effectively paving the way for Xi to remain in office indefinitely.

The first constitutional amendment in a decade may herald a return to authoritarianism in China as the nation's long-established collective leadership system is expected to become a mere formality, some foreign affairs experts say.

After Xi's speech, Li Keqiang, who was re-appointed to a second five-year term as China's premier on Sunday, met the press and tried to dispel anxiety that Xi's advocacy of socialism means China would move away from a market-oriented economy.

"The Chinese economy is closely linked to the global economy," Li said, emphasizing that China will push forward the policy of reform and opening-up further.

With trade tensions with Washington growing recently over Trump's calls to reduce China's massive trade surplus with the United States, Li vowed to resolve the issue through dialogue, saying, "No winner will emerge in a trade war."

Li also said China pursues a path of peaceful development and will never engage in hegemony or strategic expansion, rejecting the view among Western nations that Beijing has been boosting economic cooperation with other countries to bolster its political clout there.

As for diplomacy, Li said Sino-Japanese relations have been certainly improving, as this year marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of a bilateral friendship treaty.

Li added he is "positively considering" visiting Japan in the first half of this year to attend a trilateral summit among China, Japan and South Korea that has been postponed.

Expressing support for North Korea's summits with the South and the United States, which are expected to take place in the coming months, Li said China will continue to "make every effort" to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

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