During the recently held 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President Xi Jingping informed his colleagues that he is above the party.
President Xi managed to secure Mao-like power, getting himself written into his party’s constitution. The CPC voted to put Xi into the same pantheon as legends Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, paving the way for the president to lead the Asian nation for an ‘indefinite’ period. By making some changes in the Politburo and in its Standing Committee, the party also made clear that it would not find Xi’s successor in near future. In fact, the party is ready to amend its rules in order to allow Xi to continue serving as president for another five years (a third term).

In the last five years, Xi hinted that he didn’t have any desire to follow the path of democracy. During the CPC Congress, he declared that all the models of political system have failed and the Chinese system has emerged as the ‘best’. The president rubbished the claim that demand of the Chinese people would gradually increase because of the country’s rapid economic development. Those, who have made such claim, also predicted that the current scenario would ultimately destroy the one-party rule. As expected, the president ignored the prediction.
During the Congress, Xi sent a strong political message: the world should be prepared to witness the emergence of more authoritarian rulers. The scenario is almost the same in neighbouring Russia, where Vladimir Putin is all set to win the upcoming Presidential Election.
The main essence of Xi’s political thought is ‘solidarity’. The president is well aware of the fact that the rapid economic development has triggered social inequality in China and corruption adversely affects the country’s economy. So, he has decided to fight against corruption and to consolidate the economic activities in order to achieve a ‘moderate’ economic growth.
Xi’s attitude towards global geopolitics and his thought process bring him closer to Mao, and not Deng. He has decided to achieve a moderate growth. But, it does not mean that China will stop playing active role in global politics. The president has assured his countrymen that China will emerge as a great world power by the end of 2050. It is to be noted that Deng’s China used to follow a completely different diplomatic policy. During his regime, Beijing was not interested in playing a global role. However, Xi is ready to take China to the opposite direction. The way he defended Beijing’s aggressive South China Sea policy during the Congress is fearsome, as it shows that China is not ready to respect international law.

The question is: would it be possible for Xi to achieve those that he wants? His main problem is to keep the party united and loyal (to him). So far, he has been successful. But, there is no guarantee that he will enjoy the success in future. The CPC has changed its character in recent times. Although there is a similarity between Xi’s political ideas and Mao’s, the party is eager to follow Deng’s path. The transformation of the economy and the society is constantly influencing the ideological base of the CPC. The party has adopted Deng’s ‘it doesn’t matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice’ mentality.
The president knows that he has a tough task on his hands. That’s why he is trying hard to bring all the powers under his control. Only time will determine how far he will be able to go on the success journey. It is wise not to predict anything about China.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das