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Xi Jinping: Personality and Policies Prasanna Aditya a Intern, Chennai Centre for China Studies June 12 2020

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Xi Jinping: Personality and Policies Prasanna Aditya a Intern, Chennai Centre for China Studies June 12 2020 Image Courtesy: New York Times Issue Brief III Xi Jinping: Personality and Policies Prasanna Aditya A Intern, Chennai Centre For China Studies June 12 2020 Introduction Disappointed with the rise of „bourgeois elements‟ in society, Chairman Mao Zedong unleashed what he called the „Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution‟ in 1966 which went on to be seared in Chinese collective memory as a period of unspeakable horror. He exhorted the masses to root out the capitalist sympathisers and preserve the revolution. Mao was a towering figure in Chinese politics since the People‟s Republic of China was founded in 1949. Even before the PRC became a sovereign country, the clout that Mao commanded in its territory was enormous. He built his base across the Chinese countryside and was genuinely viewed by his supporters and the masses as a revolutionary figure. The civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao and the nationalist Kuomintang was long and exhausting. The Japanese occupation of China in 1937 gave the fighters a cause to shed their differences and unite in defence of a common cause. Once the Japanese were expelled from their land with the end of the Second World War, the Chinese continued their infighting. After a protracted period of struggle, the CCP came out on top and founded the People‟s Republic of China and banished the Kuomintang to an island 140 miles off the coast now known as Taiwan. Since the genesis of the state, its history was intertwined and indistinguishable from that of the Communist Party. Mao, with his undisputed leadership of the party, was its face and his authority over the affairs of the state was supreme and unquestionable. He attained a cult-like status in his life and his total domination of China was unparalleled. Roused by Mao‟s call to „preserve the revolution‟, hundreds of thousands of students in every corner of the country went on a rampage and committed atrocities in the name of „cleansing the party of capitalist sympathisers.‟ Communist party offices were ransacked, officials tortured and/or murdered, teachers harassed, moderates sent into exile and millions of people were humiliated and physically assaulted. Sensing that the situation was getting out of hand, Mao called in the army to restore order and sent the marauding youngsters to the countryside. Even before he unleashed the colossal calamity that was called the „Cultural Revolution‟, Mao had already inflicted a prolonged period of suffering on his people in 1958; with a foolhardy scheme he christened „Great Leap Forward‟. Meant to increase agricultural and industrial output in a relatively short period of time, the scheme collectivised agriculture by organising farmers into communes and encouraged every household to set up iron furnaces in the backyard. This scheme caused millions of deaths and churned out monstrous quantities of waste. What is more, it paved the way for a famine in which millions more perished. These episodes of history drew attention to the perils of concentrating wide and extensive powers in the hands of a single person. More than two decades under Mao, China had been subjected to severe hardship but little growth. Reverence to a personality was favoured at the expense of national progress and welfare. This would make the future Chinese society wary of personality-based rule. Deng Xiaoping, Mao‟s successor, warned against “the excessive concentration of power...particularly the first secretary, who takes command and sets the tune for everything. In the end, unified Party leadership is reduced to nothing but the leadership of a single person.”1 Deng, as soon as he rose to power, set out to reverse all that his predecessor stood for. The economy was opened up to foreign investment, domestic firms were allowed to compete internationally, contributing to China‟s growing role in the market and millions were lifted out of poverty. But one point, however, 1 "Xi Jinping May Be President for Life. What Will Happen to ...." 26 Feb. 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/xi-jinping-may-be-president-for-life-what-will- happen-to-china. Accessed 22 May. 2020. Deng was as steadfast as Mao; the total domination of the CCP over the state. This was evidenced by his reluctance to allow democracy in the country and the ruthless suppression of pro-freedom protests in Tiananmen in 1989. But Deng was aware of the dangers of one-man rule and its susceptibility to slip into tyranny. He instituted in the 1982 Constitution the clause that restricted Presidential terms to two. That laid the foundation stone for what became known as „collective leadership.‟ While Deng remained the power behind the throne until his death in 1997, he dutifully made his chosen successor Jiang Zemin President in 1993. Starting then, all important decisions were made collectively and a culture of consensus was nurtured and preserved. The President‟s status was that of „first among equals‟ and he could by no means make decisions unilaterally without consulting the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). In keeping with this principle, Jiang passed on the reins of power to Hu Jintao in a smooth and seamless transition. Hu too scrupulously observed the conventions of collective leadership and joint decision-making. More than two decades of collective leadership, however, could not restrain the next President Xi Jinping from absorbing enormous powers in his hands. As soon as he became President in 2013, he put himself at the top of about a dozen state-committees and since then, has been making decisions with little consultations with the PSC (which is composed mainly of his lackeys). The apogee of Xi‟s megalomania was witnessed in 2018 when the National Party Congress overwhelmingly voted to remove presidential term limits from the constitution. Xi, who would have retired in 2023 with the end of two terms as President, is now free to rule as long as he wants to. The demise of collective leadership and Xi‟s careful and consistent efforts to do away with it and crown himself emperor merit a careful study. That is what the paper intends to do. Xi Jinping Style The essence of Xi Jingping‟s style of leadership is captured in his slogan to achieve „the great rejuvenation of the nation.‟ Such an overt acknowledgement of China‟s superior position in the world order is in stark contrast to one of Deng Xiaoping‟s maxims that his successors meticulously followed; „Hide Your Strength, Bide Your Time.‟ The axiom encourages the rulers to take a quiet, cautious and modest approach to the world. It favours self-effacing humility over undisguised self- promotion. Xi, however, dispensed with unnecessary modesty and resolved to restore China to its rightful position in the world. The grandiose Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the geo- economic harms that China inflicts on countries that defy its orders2 are all examples of Xi‟s determination to assert China‟s status as the pre-eminent power in Asia, Indo-Pacific and beyond and also as an aspiring global hegemon. To speak in terms of „national rejuvenation‟ is significant not only in that it demonstrates the desire of the Chinese in the 21st century to achieve fuller global recognition of their capability but also in that it alludes to their past in which they see themselves as having been humiliated by the western powers. The period of history right from the opium wars of the mid-19th century through the invasion of China to the triumph of CCP in the civil war is seen as a „Century of Humiliation.‟3 Furthermore, Chinese participation was not nearly as indispensable to the global economy during Mao‟s or Deng‟s reign as it is today. Ergo, the „bide your time‟ strategy was the best course of action available to Xi‟s predecessors. 2 "Britain must back Australia in its fight against China | The ...." 15 May. 2020, https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/britain-must-back-australia-in-its-fight-against-china. Accessed 23 May. 2020. 3 "How Humiliation Drove Modern Chinese History - The Atlantic." 25 Oct. 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/10/how-humiliation-drove-modern-chinese- history/280878/. Accessed 23 May. 2020. However, Xi presides over an economy that is the highest importer of oil4 and the largest exporter of steel in the world.5 With such immense economic clout, China can afford to project its power in the world stage and browbeat its opponents. Xi‟s leadership style can thus be seen as a personality-based dictatorship that exploits economic prowess to achieve global supremacy. With all the necessary resources at his disposal, Xi is endowed with circumstances that are conducive to a global projection of Chinese supremacy. Such favourable circumstances did not exist in his predecessors‟ times which led them to adopt a defensive and inward-looking stance. Xi knows that the time is different now and believes firmly that an overbearing and outward-looking China would be on the right path toward hegemony. In his mission to propel China to the top, Xi considers himself the chief architect of its rise. Xi is seen as an unapologetic megalomaniac by strategic observers and this is fuelled by an ambition to launch himself in the pantheon of the greatest Chinese leaders. Xi desires to leave his imprint in Chinese history and wants his people to see him as a father figure who knows what is right for them. In the 19th Party Congress, he took the most important step toward reserving a place for himself in the history of the nation. Not only did he get the parliament to abolish term limits for the presidency, but also he got his name and political philosophy inscribed in the constitution.6 Xi‟s rise is best studied through an analysis of the key levers of his power.
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