The next Mao

Xi Jinping’s 104-minute speech at the recently concluded Congress of the Chinese Communist Party did not set any new direction for China. However, a few major events clearly showed that Xi has cemented his power as the primary and perhaps the sole ruler in China. He is now General Secretary of the Communist Party which is the most powerful position in his country. At the same time he is chairman of the military commission, which makes him the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

In his speech he warned the Chinese people that they must look to a period of “stormy seas,” warning that there would be many possible troubles in the years ahead. In fact, the People’s Congress issued a concluding statement which praised Xi’s government for leading China in “effectively responding to grave and complicated international circumstances and massive risks and challenges that have followed hard on the heels of each other.”

It seems to me that Xi was justifying his centralization of all powers in his hands by warning China that they were facing grave risks and challenges ahead. It should be remembered that the decades following the death of Mao Zedong actually brought about an age of prosperity for China. It was Deng Xiaoping’s economic liberalization and fostering close trading ties with the West, Japan and other former foes that brought about this economic prosperity that resulted in hundreds of millions of Chinese being lifted from poverty.

During this period, China also saw the growth of business firms that became the model for the rest of the world. In the last decade under Xi Jinping, these economic and political reforms have been reversed and the intrusion of the Communist Party in the economic life of the nation became more intense. Suddenly, Chinese businessmen like Jack Ma, who flourished under the past regime, disappeared from the public eye.

I remember that in 2002, the then leader of China, Jiang Zemin, said that China would enjoy decades of “strategic opportunity.” He meant that China would be free of serious risks of any major conflict. It was also Jiang who facilitated the entry of China into the World Trade Organization (WTO). This was the time of rapid commercial expansion of China.

The world also hoped at that time that China would liberalize its politics and its business. The prevailing talk in Beijing at that time was to stress the peaceful rise of China in the world. The recent People’s Congress which gave supreme power to Xi seems to have signaled a total change in the previous policies and strategic direction of Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin.

It was notable that Xi was bent on leading his nation in a different direction than Deng and Jiang. For example, in one of his speeches before the People’s Congress, he warned that there were many “dangers and challenges” ahead. It seems to me that Xi was preparing his people for a struggle on the way to becoming the biggest power in the world. It seemed he was also preparing to become the supreme ruler in the way that Mao Zedong ruled China before the era of liberalization ushered in by Deng.

The People’s Liberation Army commanders were urged by General Xu Qiliang, according to The New York Times, to carry out “a historical rescue, reshaping and transformation of the People’s Liberation Army forces.” What was more foreboding was Xu’s statement: “In all actions, absolutely obey the command of Chairman Xi.”

Another notable message of Xi in his address to the People’s Congress was his statement that China would become more active in world affairs, but would promote its own solutions for global development challenges. It seemed clear that he was laying the groundwork for China’s version of a new world order. He also repeated that China will win control of Taiwan and use force, if necessary. It is speculated that Xi wants to force Taiwan to become part of China before 2027, before the end of his third term.

At the end of the People’s Congress, the members of the seven-man Standing Committee of the Communist Party were named. This is the most powerful political body in China. There were four new members and three of the new members were former chiefs of staff of Xi Jinping. The new second in command was the former Communist Party chief of Shanghai. He is best known for his imposition of a two-month lockdown in Shanghai which caused tremendous hardship to the population of that city. This was done in obedience to Xi’s zero-COVID policy.

One major observation about Xi’s leadership style is that in the two most powerful bodies in the Community Party – the 24-man Politburo and the 7-man Standing Committee, there were no women. It was also observed that there was a dearth of technocrats in the highest bodies of the Communist Party. In the past, there were even engineers in the Politburo and the Standing Committee. It would seem that the most important trait for belonging to these two top groups was loyalty to Xi Jinping.

There has been much talk that Xi Jinping aspires to be the next Mao Zedong of China. Hopefully, the Chinese people will remember that it was not Mao Zedong who brought them prosperity, but it was Deng Xiaoping with his policies of economic liberalization and his promise to the world that China would not become an imperialist nation.

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