China’s President Xi Jinping thought spells instability
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) turned 100, its supreme leader and China’s President-for-life Xi Jinping claimed his country had never bullied or subjugated any other nation nor would it ever do so. But the message that rang across the world was exactly the opposite. The reason is simple. Actions speak louder than words.
The CCP has much to be proud of and as much to be ashamed of. Millions of Chinese perished in the Cultural Revolution and the Great Leap Forward and an unknown number bore the brunt of its fury in the Tiananmen Square protests. Not to forget the millions of Uyghurs currently lodged in detention camps in Xinjiang. On the other hand, the CCP uplifted millions of Chinese from poverty with its Open Doors Policy or rather, the unnatural marriage of socialism with market economics —Socialism with Chinese characteristics. The father of this peculiar formulation, Deng Xiaoping, had cautioned his comrades to bide their time until the country became rich before flexing muscles on the international stage. Three decades on, Xi surely believes the time has come. China has been clocking an 9.8% growth rate on an average since 1979 and was the only country to register growth last year despite Covid. Evidently the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao, Xi has arrogated to himself immense power by ensuring that the two-term limit on presidency is removed, his own Xi Jinping Thought incorporated in the Constitution and the party purged of his opponents.
His reign since 2012 has seen China becoming more assertive, be it in the South China Sea or the borders with India, arm-twisting countries economically, cracking down on Hong Kong, upping the ante on Taiwan and refusing to be transparent about Covid’s origins. Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, promotion of authoritarian capitalism and export of digital technology appear aimed at reshaping the world with China at the centrestage. Drum-beating nationalism at home and itching for confrontations abroad, whether Xi’s tenure spells instability in the CCP remains to be seen. He is definitely in the process of achieving that abroad.