What even the gravels on the way knew: in day 23 Of this month, around them 2000 representatives two 96,7 million members of the Chinese Communist Party (PCC) reappointed the General Secretary and President of the Party, Xi Jinping, for another five-year term. at your end, he will have served fifteen years in the absolute power of the Party…and the People's Republic of China.
Previously, only Mao Zedong had such a leading role in the lives of the Chinese. Since then, the tradition had become the sharing of power between the political leadership, in unison. So it was in generations after him.: that of the âtriumvirateâ Jiang Zemin, Li Peng e Zhu Rongzhi, and his successors, Hu Jintao e Wen Jiabao. In these previous steps, leaders kept a low profile, avoiding personal protagonism. This was given to the Party as a whole. To the People's Republic avocava, So, the status of âdeveloping countryâ, for which it was admitted – with the resulting benefits – at the World Trade Organization, in 2001. A lot of water has passed in China's political and economic life, since then, and much is due to Xi's leading role in the process.
In his nearly two-hour speech, he made it clear that development is the “top priority” for the CCP, and underscored the continued focus on “high quality growthâ. He stated that China has expanded its global influence over the past five years. mentioned, also, the decision to suppress movements in Hong Kong against Beijing. In this context, Xi said that âthe new national security law has effectively criminalized dissent., bringing it to an abrupt endâ, what gave rise “a turn for the better in the region”. He also urged the “most Taiwanese compatriots” to maintain ties between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and blamed a small minority of agitators â as well as foreign agents â for the tensions: âThe wheel of history is turning towards the reunification and rejuvenation of the great Chinese nation… Complete reunification can, undoubtedly, be hit”, disse Xi, not sunday, drawing enthusiastic applause from those present. This statement provoked an immediate response from the Taipei presidential palace., which stated that âTaiwan citizens definitely do not accept the principle forged by Beijing of âone country and two systemsâ.
The party audience endorsed the leadership's position and approved changes to the constitution that endorse Xi's political vision as central to China's future.. We are facing a decidedly more assertive People's Republic… and for some, more bellicose? Let's contextualize….
The first script to follow is to look at the personal history of the new leader. Who is Xi Jinping?
He is the son of none other than Xi Zhongxun, revolutionary leader and part of communist China's first generation of leadership. Xi-pai was Mao's companion in the "Great March" and played an important role in the process of economic opening that Deng Xiaoping launched at the end of the 1990s. 70 last century. When then governor of Guandong province, no on from China, it was he who proposed to Deng the creation of special economic zones (ZPE´s) who opened the country to the world. His contributions to Chinese politics in the years 80 were wide and numerous. He was known for his political moderation and the setbacks he faced throughout his career., including the consequences of his open criticism of the government's actions during the Tian An Men Square incident., in 1989. For his convictions he was imprisoned and purged several times., even during the Cultural Revolution, just like your son, who was sent to forced labor in an agricultural commune in Shaanxi Province. A esposa de Xi Jinping, Peng Liyuan, is a very popular singer of folk and military songs, and his daughter is currently studying at Harvard under a pseudonym, second rumors. Therefore, Xi Jinping is a âmodernâ man by Chinese standards…
Ahead of Congress and China since 2012, he has good approval from the population, despite having recently faced protests against his government due to the âlock downâ policy and “Covid-zero”, that left the country isolated and damaged the economy, which registered a low rate of growth This good concept does not prevent it from having antagonists within its own party, of those who seek to free themselves through an anti-corruption campaign, that its antagonists consider as a real âhuntâ for the opponents, generating the concern of the country returning to what it was before 1970, when Mao Zedong led absolute. Given this scenario, some experts point out that Xi's next five years tend to be one of uncertainty and instability..
And what drives the population to give it such broad support?
several factors, At my point of view. The first thing to remember is what the history books â and the PCC â qualify as the rescue to the âcentury of humiliationsâ, that is, the 19th century, when the proud Qing dynasty (1644 / 1912), that reigned absolute over the country that until then had been the world's largest economy, found itself torn apart by western colonialists, with the British ahead, who imposed the consumption of opium on him to counterbalance a trade deficit for them and that, in the wake of defeat in the First Opium War, Hong Kong was kidnapped, by the Nanjing Treaty, in 1842. This trauma has persisted ever since in the social psyche of the Chinese and was, inclusive, one of the important factors in the communists' rise to power in Beijing, in 1949. Now, today's China, increasingly affluent and on its way to becoming the first power (geo)world economic, according to analysts, lives the urge to recover â and expand to the adjacent region, and beyond â the power and prestige he had lost. Xi cites this theme in almost all of his speeches..
Equally dominant in his tenure is a concept coined by a professor at the China Defense Academy., Liu Mingfu in his book âChina Dreamâ, that in the first paragraph of its first chapter lines up what this dream is. In English, as stated: âbut what does it mean for China to become the world´s leading nation? First it means that China´s economy will lead the world. On that basis, it will make China the strongest country in the world. As China rises to the status of a great power in the 21st century, it´s aim is nothing less than the top â to be the leader of the modern global economyââŚXi repeats the phrases of this book in almost all of his speeches equally. Ambitious, CertainlyâŚ? Naive, perhaps?…
Not to mention the dream of retracing the ancient Silk Road through the project ” Belt and Road Initiative”, this time also connecting three continents through technology, Asia, Europe and Africa, reviving and revitalizing the route that made China's glory and fortune over the centuries.
For so much, the Chinese government is already mobilizing: in May 2016, the State Council announced a âMade in China 2025â plan, also called âChina Manufactured 2025â, intended to update, consolidate and balance the national manufacturing industry, transforming it into a global power capable of influencing patterns, supply chains and drive innovation, on a planetary level, based on the idea that the world is going through the fourth industrial revolution and that it is up to her to lead this process. Again, ambitious…naive…?
All these aspirations (…daydreams?…) find their civilizational ballast in a Confucian political theory/philosophy that was coined by the Zhou dynasty (check. IX/X AEC), that embodies the natural order into the will of the universe, which gives the mandate to a just ruler, The “son of heaven”. His fall is interpreted as indicating that he was unworthy and, in consequence, lost the mandate. This principle has always guided the rise and fall of all Chinese dynasties.. And it is still the cornerstone of coexistence between leaders and subordinates in contemporary China.. Now, the population has never had such a high quality of life, to your standards. Suffice it to say that last year the government announced that it had eradicated absolute misery in the country.. Rhetoric…, or an extraordinary feat, in front of a population of 1,4 billion individuals?…
That is, even though there is dissent and accusations against Beijing's leadership, and its supreme leader, fact is that the population, in the vast majority, are satisfied with their rulers, despite the lack of freedom, etc. That is, Xi enjoy, per hour, of the Mandate of Heaven. The values – freedom, Western style human rights, etc. – that are so dear to us, in the west, relativize in the case of the Chinese, pragmatic and with an infinitely wider historical horizon. What seems anathema to us is for them â for now, at least â one step to be reached in the future, when the affluence they now enjoy seems insufficient to enjoy life to the fullest. When will be?
