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Speaking at the closure of the 13th National People's Congress, a meeting of the country's rubber-stamp parliament, Xi said the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has become the biggest dream of the Chinese people."
"We are resolved to fight the bloody battle against our enemies ... with a strong determination to take our place in the world," Xi said.
That move ensures Xi's place as the country's unquestioned political supremo in a world where China's reach is extending further than ever before and rival superpower the United States is taking a back seat.
Warning for Taiwan
Xi listed China's historic achievements -- such as the invention of paper, Confucianism, and building the Great Wall -- and the country's experience of invasion from outside and "defending the national independence and freedom."
He had strong language for supporters of formal independence for Taiwan or Hong Kong, saying that "not a single inch of our land" could be ceded from China. The comments received loud applause from the hundreds of delegates gathered in the Great Hall of the People.
"We should safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country and achieve full unification of the motherland," Xi said, adding unification was "the aspiration of all Chinese people."
Merriden Varrall, director of the East Asia Program at Australia's Lowy Institute, said the speech was clearly designed for a domestic audience, and strong language about Taiwan is a "sure fire way to get the Chinese people on your side."
"The issues of Taiwan and Hong Kong are absolutely critical to most of the Chinese population in terms of how they judge whether or not the (Party is) doing its job," she said.
Absolute control
In his speech, Xi was keen to keen to rally support for his vision, emphasizing his role as one among many, using the term "people" 84 times, compared to just 18 mentions of "socialism."
"The new era belongs to everyone, and everyone is a witness, pioneer, and builder of the new era. As long as we are united and struggle together, there will be no power to stop the Chinese people from realizing their dreams," he said.
"We should make sure the (Party) has ultimate leadership over the military and in a new era continue to strengthen ... the military with science and technology and rule-based governance," he said.
"(The Party) is the supreme leadership of the country (and) holds ultimate leadership over every aspect of our social and political life."
Strongman club
Putin is cleared to rule Russia for six more years, and some analysts predicted he may follow Xi's lead and remove term limits in order to serve indefinitely, pointing to the lack of a likely successor to the presidency.
"The action of Xi Jinping is kind of a road map for Putin," Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center, told CNN.
CNN's Yuli Yang, Steven Jiang, Serenitie Wang and Katie Hunt contributed reporting.