That's What Xi Said

You know what scares the living daylight out of me? No, it’s not the ghost from Conjuring- it’s China. More specifically, it’s China under Xi Jinping.

In late 2012, Xi Jinping replaced Hu Jintao as China’s President and Supreme Leader. His ascent to power was guaranteed by a series of internal compromises and votes of the various factions of The Chinese Communist Party. In Xi’s first term as President, he began his famous anti-corruption campaign, targeting Chinese government officials and business tycoons. Within three years, over a million Chinese officials had been jailed and sacked. Some of the most powerful officials of China at that time, such as Zhou Yongkang who was incharge of internal security affairs and Sun Zhengcai who was the Communist Party Secretary of Chongqing were arrested. Conveniently for Xi, some of the individuals charged with corruption also happen to be his rivals.

Apart from his anti- corruption campaign, Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which began in 2013, has also garnered world-wide attention. The BRI is an inter continental long term policy and investment program aimed at infrastructure development along the Ancient Silk Road. It comprises the Silk Road on land and the 21st century maritime Silk Road. An estimated 1 trillion dollars would be invested in this project. China claims that the BRI aims to increase commerce in Asia, Europe and Africa and strengthen the relations among countries in the region. Xi claims that the BRI is China’s “historic mission” to bring about “national rejuvenation”. However, underdeveloped, low-income countries aiming to finance infrastructure projects for the BRI are at a risk of increasing their debt to GDP ratios. China has been heavily criticized by the west for its “debt trap diplomacy” for its loans.

Unlike his predecessors, Xi has centralized his power and built a massive personality cult where he portrays himself as a “man of the masses”. The increasing censorship in the Chinese media has eliminated Western influences and the right to free speech among the citizens. If that’s not dystopian enough, in 2017, the Chinese Communist Party voted to add “Xi Jinping Thought for the new era of Socialism with Chinese Special Characteristics” to the party's constitution, making Xi equivalent to the founder of China. This addition will guide the future Chinese leaders to fulfill Xi’s vision for global supremacy and dominance. Xi’s power and influence was further consolidated and reinforced in 2018 when the CCP unanimously voted to scrap term limits on the Presidency allowing Xi to rule China indefinitely.

Elimination of his opposition, conviction politics, ambitious economic projects, ruthless consolidation of power, and the pushback against the media have guaranteed Xi a firm hold over the ideologies and beliefs of Chinese society.

In the last 9 years, China under Xi Jinping, has become increasingly dominant in international affairs- marking a departure from its decades old “lay low” foreign policy. As China emerges as one of the largest economies in the world and begins to expand its spheres of power, it’s important to understand the implications of Xi’s vision in shaping Chinese policy and what that would mean for the rest of the world.