China’s global prominence is now a fact. For most countries, China is at the top of their list of trading partners. China’s diplomatic and mercantile footprint has extended from the bazaars of the Middle East to the marketplaces of Latin America, from ports in Greece to mines in Africa. China’s top universities are rising fast on the world’s rankings, while hundreds of thousands of children and youths around the world now learn Mandarin Chinese as a foreign language.
Yet, attention to China’s political developments pales in comparison to the attention the world’s media pays to, say, US politics. Coverage on the Chinese Communist Party’s just-concluded 19th national congress seems to be limited to foreign-policy and area publications, while coverage of it in mainstream media remains cursory. As China moves away from the collective leadership model, personalities matter more and more. If so, to know China means to know who its leaders are.
In a sense, China seems to be returning to an earlier time of political giants like Chairman Mao Zedong and Paramount Leader Deng Xiaoping. Under Mao, China went through turbulence after turbulence: struggle sessions against landlords, the Hundred Flowers Campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. Mao welcomed political chaos as he believed it would propel the Chinese revolution forward. Deng, on the other hand, felt that unceasing revolution would not lead to national resurgence; economic reform would.
Unsurprisingly, post-Deng Chinese politics moved to balance collective leadership and personal authority. Brookings Institute’s China analyst Cheng Li notes, “without the former, China is subject to strongman rule; without the latter, it often faces gridlock and a lack of accountability.”
As President Xi starts another term in office, this time as China’s most powerful leader in recent history, can he lead the country toward national rejuvenation? What exactly will that look like? How will a rejuvenated China act toward its neighbors?
