With no 'organised opposition', China's strongman Xi prepares for unprecedented third term

Record ID: 1692948

  • Title: With no 'organised opposition', China's strongman Xi prepares for unprecedented third term
  • Date: 10th October 2022
  • Summary: HONG KONG, CHINA (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 30, 2022) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLITICAL SCIENTIST, RYAN MANUEL, WORKING IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLITICAL SCIENTIST, RYAN MANUEL, SAYING: “(His accomplishments are) uniting the party and centralising, changing how China is run. When Xi (Jinping) came in, the previous leader Hu Jintao was seen as being too weak because he was a consensus leader and delegated power. Xi Jinping centralised power in his own office and focused on trying to make the party much more proud of itself as a party which has led into other issues. So that's what you see as his achievements, and that will obviously shape his next five years as well.”
  • Embargoed: 24th October 2022 01:41
  • Keywords: China Communist Party President Xi Jinping leadership party congress
  • Location: BEIJING, HONG KONG, WUHAN, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, HONG KONG, WUHAN, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Asia / Pacific,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA002060107102022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART VIDEO QUALITY AS INCOMING / FOR MORE FILE FOOTAGE OF XI JINPING, PLEASE SEE EDIT: 8622-CHINA-CONGRESS/XI-PROFILE, PUBLISHED ON OCT 10
    Chinese President Xi Jinping, 69, is on track to break with precedent at the ruling Communist Party Congress that starts October 16 and extend his decade-long leadership for another five years, cementing the party's resurgence with him officially at its "core".
    While the exact make-up of the next standing committee will give clues as to how much Xi has neutralised what is left of opposing factions, few party-watchers expect significant change in direction or approach.
    Rather, Xi is widely expected to maintain or tighten his control, analysts say, a concentration of power that has seen increasingly dogmatic policy implementation that risks unintended consequences as competing views and feedback are discouraged or quashed.
    “When Xi came in, the previous leader Hu Jintao was seen as being too weak because he was a consensus leader and delegated power,” according to Hong Kong-based political scientist Ryan Manuel.
    “Xi Jinping centralised power in his own office and focused on trying to make the party much more proud of itself as a party which has led into other issues,” added Manuel, who also runs Bilby.ai, a technology company that analyses Chinese politics.
    Critics point to China's persistence with policy implementations despite resistance, whether on COVID, an abrasively aggressive diplomacy or stifling of the once-vibrant "platform" economy as evidence of the risks of increasingly authoritarian rule.
    While some party-watchers said China may tweak some policies following the Congress – "adjusting with the times", in party-speak – they expect Beijing to maintain its broad direction in the coming years under Xi.
    “I am sure that within the Chinese leadership there are dissenting voices, and Xi Jinping is aware of them, but he has stuck to his guns and has the power to do so. I think in China there is no organised opposition,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political scientist at the Hong Kong Baptist University.
    Official scholars argue that a country as big and diverse as China requires a strong central authority, and strong leader, to get things done and prevent chaos. They point to China's success at poverty alleviation, its efficiency at building infrastructure or organising events like this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, and the effectiveness at extinguishing COVID-19 outbreaks.
    Xi's power consolidation, rationalised by his grand pursuit of the "rejuvenation of the Chinese nation", appears to be unimpeded by challenges that have coalesced in a chaotic year, from a stumbling economy to stubborn adherence to his zero-COVID policy and support for Russia's Vladimir Putin.
    “One of China’s obsessions is to prevent China from evolving like the Soviet Union of the past,” Cabestan said. “From a strategic point of view, I think that China cannot weaken its quasi-alliance with Putin, with Russia. China doesn’t have many friends around the world, and Putin is one of those most trustworthy friends and partners.”
    (Production: Aleksander Solum, Joyce Zhou)
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