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A decade ago, when the powerful secretive faction of China’s ruling Communist Party chose Xi Jinping As a compromise candidate to lead the party to an end to a bitter power struggle, few expected the mild-mannered “princeling” to follow the example of party founder Mao Zedong and bulldozer as leader for life.
At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in November 2012, the choice to succeed then-President Hu Jintao was a toss-up between then-Vice President Xi Jinping and the suave, intellectual Vice Premier Li Keqiang.
After Xi won the championship, Hu Jintao, who pitched for Li, quietly retired according to the rule that his predecessors handed the reins to Xi. Xi was known as the “princeling” Prime Minister Xi Zhongxun of the Mao era.
In the months that followed, Li Keqiang, who had been Xi’s opponent and became the second-ranked prime minister, stepped down in favor of Xi as the core leader, making him the sole leader of the ruling party and country.
A decade later, at the 20th National Congress in Beijing, which closed on Saturday, it was the turn of Xi Jinping, 69, to hand over his successor for a record third term and beyond, following old rules.
Xi Jinping’s rise to power and the rapid consolidation of his party’s leadership, and through a shocking anti-corruption campaign that earned him the title of “core leader” of the party passed only to Mao Zedong, did indeed force his inner-party opponents to capitulate and captured the world’s attention.
From his first day in office, Xi Jinping has launched a relentless anti-corruption campaign that, in addition to resonating with people, has helped him systematically weed out political opponents, especially senior generals who challenge him.
“If there is only one lens to interpret Xi Jinping’s remarkable rise over the past decade, it must be his signature anti-corruption drive,” said Wang Xiangwei, former editor-in-chief of Hong Kong’s Wall Street Journal. South China Morning Post.
read more: China’s Xi Jinping Promotes Loyalist to Standing Committee
Since coming to power in late 2012, Xi Jinping and his supporters have skilfully combined this ruthless effort with a relentless ideological campaign aimed at consolidating power by crushing political opponents and tightening control over all segments of society. The Washington Post op-ed.
“Xi Jinping has investigated and punished nearly 5 million senior and lower-level officials, or tigers and flies, in the past decade,” Wang said.
According to Xinhua News Agency, in the past nine years, more than 400 officials above the ministerial level have been punished or investigated, including a former member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and two former vice-chairmen of the CPC Central Committee. Military Commission.
“It turns out that if corruption is allowed to spread, it will eventually lead to the downfall of the party and the downfall of the government,” Xi Jinping warned sternly.
Unlike many Communist Party leaders, Xi Jinping, born in 1953, saw power up close when his father, the revolutionary hero Xi Zhongxun, was appointed by Mao as minister of propaganda and education.
At an early age, Xi Jinping and his family went through a period of bitter suffering as his father was persecuted by Mao Zedong for his liberal views.
read more: ‘The world needs China’: What Xi Jinping said in his historic third term
According to one report, Xi Jinping spent his childhood close to Mao Zedong in Zhongnanhai, an official residential area for the Communist Party leadership in Beijing.
But at the same time, Xi Jinping saw his father lose all his privileges after he clashed with Mao Zedong and was exiled. At the age of 13, during Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution, Xi Jinping had to drop out of school and go to the countryside, where he suffered a lot.
After repeated attempts, Xi Jinping successfully joined the party in 1974.
Years later, Xi was quoted as saying there were attempts to prevent him from admitting to the CCP on the grounds of his father’s alleged wrongdoing.
“Make a mistake and get a conviction. But where is my father’s crime? Who do you think I am? What have I done? Have I written or chanted counter-revolutionary slogans? I’m a guy who wants to build a business. This has What’s the problem? Xi asked.
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A recent article in the state-run Xinhua news agency said he was just 15 when he arrived in Liangjiahe, Shaanxi Province as an “educated youth” in 1969, underscoring his early life.
“It would take 38 years and multiple appointments at all levels of the party before he could be promoted to the top job,” the Xinhua report said.
From 1975 to 1979, Xi studied chemical engineering at the prestigious Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Xi married Peng Liyuan, a famous Chinese folk singer. They have a daughter named Xi Mingze, who studied for a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Harvard and later returned to Beijing after Xi became the country’s top leader.
Observers say the analysis of Xi Jinping’s decade in power, systemic accumulation of power and disdain for some senior officials, including generals, stems from the hardships he and his family, especially his father, have had to endure.
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“Xi Jinping, who grew up in a neighborhood where high-ranking officials in Beijing lived, did not seek wealth. It was an attraction to power,” Francois Bougon wrote in his book, “The Thought of Xi Jinping.”
“According to statements from the US embassy collected by the former acquaintance between 2007 and 2009 (in Beijing), Xi Jinping was always ‘extremely ambitious’ and ‘never lost sight of his goal’ of reaching the top,” said Bu Gong wrote.
During his decade in power, criticism of Xi Jinping has grown within the Communist Party. Cai Xia, a professor at the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China from 1998 to 2012, is one such critic.
Xi was the principal of the party’s famous ideological school when he was vice-chairman.
Cai said he would likely succeed if growing anger among some party elites meant his bid would not be entirely without controversy.
“But this success will bring more turbulence in the future,” Cai, who later became a harsh critic of Xi Jinping and successfully moved to the United States, wrote in a recent article in Foreign Affairs magazine about Xi’s resignation in his Continuation of power after 10 years in power. term of office.
“Built by an unprecedented extra term, Xi may further tighten his grip at home and raise his ambitions internationally,” she wrote.
read more: Xi Jinping wins a historic third term.Now, China’s most powerful leader
However, Xi’s supporters believe the party and the country need him.
Without a strong leadership core, it is difficult for the party to unify the will of the whole party and to unite the people of all ethnic groups. Say.
He said it would be unable to achieve anything or carry out any “great struggle against many new historical features”.
For China and the Chinese people, Xi’s continued power heralds a new era with the hallmarks of the Mao Zedong era.
But to the world, Xi Jinping is now a familiar figure, said a senior diplomat who asked not to be named.
“Xi Jinping is the new normal for China. The world has seen his ten-year rule, and continuity is good in a way. We know each other,” he said.
But the diplomat, who asked not to be named, said a zero-coronavirus policy could be a major challenge for China’s leader as he settles down to long-term rule.
Removing the zero-coronavirus policy could pose a moral, ethical and political dilemma for Xi Jinping as he accuses world leaders of ignoring their people when China cares about them.
Such policies can make or break any system, no matter how powerful, because for people, livelihoods are as important as their lives, he said.
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