Xi Jinping and the future of China
Image: Tingshu Wang/Reuters
More than 2,200 delegates unanimously approved new revisions to China’s constitution over the weekend, effectively designating President Xi Jinping as the country’s most important leader since Chairman Mao Zedong.
🇨🇳 A deeper dive… The constitutional revisions were approved at the twice-per-decade Chinese Communist Party (CCP) congress, which finished yesterday. The changes handed Xi a precedent-breaking third five-year term as leader, proclaiming him to be “the core of the entire party.”
- Chinese delegates also appointed a new seven-member Politburo Committee, aka the CCP’s most powerful legislative body.
- Notably absent were China’s No. 2 and No.4-ranked leaders, who had at times contradicted the president’s views on economic policy and were seen as potential successors to Xi. Which brings us to the next section…
👋 Out with the old (cont.): The weekend’s proceedings were interrupted by a brief commotion on Saturday, when Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, was forcibly escorted out of the meeting venue despite appearing reluctant to leave – a move one expert called “simply astonishing.”
- Any mention of Hu’s name online has been wiped from China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform, with posts limited only to those from official accounts.
- A verified Twitter account run by the state-owned Xinhua News Agency said Hu “wasn’t feeling well” and left to go rest in another room.
👀 Looking ahead… President Xi laid out his vision for China’s future during the CCP congress, announcing plans to continue the country’s strict zero-Covid policy, oppose independence for Taiwan (by force, if necessary), and build China’s army into a “world-class military.”
📊 Flash poll: Do you think America will have a physical war with China within the next three decades?
See a 360° view of what the media is saying →
From the Left
- Some commentators argue that Xi Jinping's attempt to become de-facto dictator for life can only end badly for China, as his moves to crush dissent and close entire regions due to Covid are incredibly short-sighted.
- Others argue that Xi has been consistently telegraphing that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is imminent, and contend the US must do everything it can to prepare for that eventuality.
- “Xi Jinping’s Chairman Mao Act Won’t End Well for China” –Mark Gongloff, Bloomberg
- “Responding to Xi's China” –Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board
- “It’s time to stop calling Xi Jinping the ‘president’ of China” –Katherine Wilhelm, WaPo
From the Right
- Some commentators argue that China’s combination of aggressive nationalism and Communist ideology is the single biggest threat to world freedom, and a conflict between Beijing and the US is inevitable.
- Others contend that Xi’s drive to return China to aggressive and totalitarian rule is a recipe for disaster, since he’s made the regime so rigid that a societal and financial crisis is all-but-guaranteed in the near future.
- “The Thoughts of Chairman Xi” –WSJ Editorial Board
- “Xi Jinping is arrogantly leading China to disaster” –NY Post Editorial Board
- “Thank You, Xi Jinping” –Bret Stephens, NY Times
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