Xi Jinping is ambitious, courageous and confident when it comes to assuming power. He has imbibed the qualities born in the privileged elite class of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Image Credit source: AP/PTI
Recently there was a rumor that China the president of Xi Jinping has been placed under house arrest, but it was more of a fiction than a fact. This shows that Xi is now China’s most powerful central figure, comparable to Mao and Deng Xiaoping. Xi’s reintegration of leadership after China’s 20th Party Congress in October seems a foregone conclusion. He would then become the first Chinese leader after Mao and Deng to lead the country for two consecutive decades. Soon after starting his first term in November 2012, his followers said that “China, under Xi Jinping, has begun a third new 30-year era like Mao and Deng Xiaoping”.
Xi Jinping is ambitious, courageous and confident when it comes to assuming power. He has imbibed the qualities born in the privileged elite class of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). When Xi was born in 1953, as the son of Qi Xin and General Xi Zhongxun, one of Mao’s trusted lieutenants, Xi Jinping attended a special school for the children of the CCP elite.
He and his classmates and peers in their social circles developed the idea that they had to restore China’s ‘old’ glory. School students in China are taught that it is their sacred duty to “recover” the map of China between 1840-1919. This mentality was inculcated not only in Xi Jinping but also in the children of other ‘princes’ or CCP cadres.
CCP outbreak
Xi has also seen the dark side of the CCP’s power politics. His father was “sort of separated” from the CCP and deported to Henan province in 1963. Xi was 10 years old at the time. In May 1966, a cultural revolution put the brakes on his secondary education. The ‘Red Guards’ ransacked the home of the Xi family, and Xi’s elder sister, Xi Heping, committed suicide under pressure. His mother was humiliated, paraded in front of a crowd as an enemy of the revolution and forced to publicly denounce his father. After his father’s arrest in 1968, Xi was sent to work in the village of Liangjiahe in Shaanxi.
Despite the misfortune and pain he and his family witnessed in his early years, Xi did not go abroad or join government jobs like other children of the CCP cadre. Instead, he made the risky decision to join the CCP, at a time when he had no ‘mentor’ until Deng Xiaoping returned to power in 1979. These experiences strengthened him mentally and his ideological commitment. However, his family ties with the CCP facilitated his rise in the CCP. This is also evident from a letter written by his mother Qi Xin to the party secretary of Hebei in the 1980s. In this letter, he urged to promote his son to the standing committee of the provincial party. However, the party secretary declined and against tradition made the request public.
Within days of taking office in November 2012, without self-doubt, Xi worked together to ‘reform’ the party, the military and the government bureaucracy. And worked to cover from primary schools to universities in its ideological circle. He initiated a complete ‘reform’ of the party, launched an anti-corruption campaign aimed at dismantling the opposition as well and worked to reorganize the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). This work was pending since the time of his predecessor Hu Jintao, as the Jintao was not able to garner enough support. Xi’s fervent commitment to the ideology of the CCP was evident.
It is very unusual for any leader to bring changes in all organs of the state at once, but Xi did it. Within two years, more than 40,000 PLA officers, including over 150 officers above the rank of Major General and 175 cadres of Union Deputy Ministers equivalent and above, were dismissed and imprisoned on various corruption charges. Xi made frequent political changes in the party and the PLA. Through these changes, he strengthened his ideology. Ensured the appointment of personnel loyal to him. and ensured that the PLA became “absolutely obedient” to the CCP and them. In the process, he made China an even more authoritarian state.
party support
Xi’s appointment to three of China’s top posts at the 18th Party Congress in October 2012 clearly showed he had the party’s backing. The party gave him full support to spread the party’s ideology and increase its supremacy and ensure the party’s pre-eminent position. The current and retired members of the party and their families, almost all of whom have been given a range of benefits and privileges, form a loyal loyalist to the CCP. They want to retain the current leadership of the CCP. They will support Xi and Xi will also depend on him, but if he feels that the party or its leadership is in danger, they can even throw him out of leadership to save the party. Also, sanctioning Xi’s third term by the 20th Party Congress would mean that the CCP has supported his domestic and foreign policies.
As Xi begins his third 5-year term in October 2022, he will also have to live up to some of the promises and ambitions he has announced. It is certain that he will continue to expand stringent domestic security laws and carry out an anti-corruption campaign. He has linked national development with national security through the Global Development Initiative (GDI) and the Global Security Initiative (GSI). But a slowing economy, which led to a 30 per cent reduction in salaries of government employees a few months ago, rising unemployment, rising cost of living, a ‘zero Covid’ policy and a surge in anti-China sentiment globally have angered people. These reasons can become a threat to his third term.
There is resentment among large sections of the population, especially China’s “princes”, the powerful section of intellectuals and students, and the private entrepreneurs who contribute 80 per cent of the country’s employment. These have the potential to seriously influence Xi’s efforts. If unchecked, they can derail their national ambitions and even threaten to destroy the legitimacy of the CCP. This will put pressure on Xi to change his policies and/or quit.
‘Two goals of the century’
As Xi advances his foreign policy agenda, he will face major obstacles in the Indo-Pacific, with opposition from countries such as India, Japan, Vietnam and Australia. These countries will not readily accept allowing China to become the regional overlord. Tensions between the US and China are already high due to Taiwan, the South China Sea and Ukraine. CCP members are apprehensive that the escalation of tensions could lead to the imposition of US sanctions against China, which would seriously affect China’s economy and, more importantly, it could kill nearly 40 million senior CCP cadres and their Will affect families individually.
Influencing the world to “rejuvenate the great Chinese nation” and “make China a major power with global influence” as well as a “community of common destiny”, is Xi’s vision. These have also been included in the constitution. As the ‘Two of the Century’ goals, the first goal includes redefining China’s borders, seeking to “recover” those territories it claims were taken by “unequal treaties by hostile foreign powers” went.
For India, this means that China will stick to its claims on Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh and other parts of the border between them. There is a possibility of border tension and conflict between the two armies in the coming years. Similar situations will happen with Japan, Vietnam and Taiwan. The second goal is to build a new global world order and overtake America. With this there is a real possibility of a clash between these two in the near future. If Xi is successful, he will establish China as the world’s leading power.
It will not be easy for Xi to achieve these objectives, especially within the time frame he has set. Health issues aside, Xi’s character, personality and mental strength show that he will work in this direction. After gaining the party’s support for his policies, Xi will not easily back down from any policy, be it economic or security or China’s aggressive posture.
Ignoring fears of a slowing economy and Chinese entrepreneurs, Xi continued to tighten regulations for China’s fintech and real estate sectors and spoke of “shared prosperity”. He has shown discontent and protest as a threat to social order and stability. These are depicted as a sign of American efforts to topple the CCP through a “colour revolution”. His foreign policy aggression will not go down as it will undermine the self-perception of China’s ‘strong’ nation. Under Xi’s leadership, the next five years will be difficult and tense, and the consequences will be significant for the region and the world.
(The author Jaydev Ranade is a former Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India and is currently the President of the Center for China Analysis and Strategy.)
(Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author. The opinions and facts in this article do not represent the views of NewsNCR.)
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