What the West Doesn’t Get About Xi Jinping
New York Times Op-Ed
Chinese President Xi Jinping bows to the delegates as he prepares to deliver a speech during the closing session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 20, 2018. (Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images)
The following is an excerpt from an op-ed by ASPI President Kevin Rudd, which was originally published by The New York Times.
The recent decision by China’s National People’s Congress to abolish term limits for the office of the president has sent shock waves through the West: Xi Jinping, the current officeholder, is suddenly being described as a new Confucian autocrat, overseeing a state still governed by a Marxist-Leninist party, presiding over a selectively capitalist economy, with ambitions to make his country a global superpower.
This sense of shock says more about the West than China. For the last five years, Western leaders and analysts have often projected onto China an image of their preferred imaginings, rather than one reflecting the actual statements of China’s own leaders, or in the physical evidence of Chinese statecraft. These have long pointed to a vastly different reality.
Mr. Xi has not suddenly changed. From early on, he demonstrated an unmatched level of political skill in rapidly consolidating power. To get to the top, he has outflanked, outmaneuvered, marginalized and then removed all his principal opponents. The story of his remarkable ascent is hardly a secret. And it’s certainly not for the faint-hearted.