BEIJING -- Xi Jinping opened the Chinese Communist Party's twice-a-decade National Congress on Sunday by pledging to never renounce using force to take control of Taiwan while championing a clampdown on Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

In a sweeping speech to nearly 2,300 party members at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, the Chinese president's address was laden with references to strengthening the "socialist democracy" and boosting efforts to modernize all sectors of the world's No. 2 economy.