Understanding China’s 20th Party Congress
The 20th Party Congress of the CCP will be underway shortly. More importantly, everyone knows that the 20th Party Congress is being held, but few understand the issues involved.To get more news about 20th party congress china, you can visit shine news official website.
Unlike other Party Congress meetings, this is consequential to China internally and to the international environment externally. Understanding the direction in which this meet is likely to head holds the key to deal with China in the next decade.
The backdrop of this meeting is bleak. The Chinese economy is in trouble. Zero-Covid, real estate crisis, youth unemployment and many more factors point to a GDP growth rate of only 2-3%. Chinese are saving more and spending less. More domestic companies are packing up than expanding as foreign investors are withdrawing. Supply chains built over decades are breaking. The business environment in China is deteriorating. There is huge uncertainty in the air. The overall outlook is gloomy. This is compounded by the complex geopolitical environment due to the Ukraine war and international tensions over/with the USA, EU, India, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and South China Sea. Over and above this an unprecedented drought this year when weighed against huge floods two years back point to a climate change disaster in the offing. Underpinning China’s problem is the stark fact that the demographic crisis is setting in ahead of time. While China might not collapse, the fact remains that it cannot grow the way it did so far. The broad analysis indicates that China will , at best, stagnate if it does not decline.
Very importantly, there is internal resistance to Xi Jinping. Song Ping, a centenarian and a reputed communist, openly called for ‘reform and opening-up’ quoting Xi Jinping’s own words when he had once said that ‘reform’ was the only path to the development and progress of contemporary China and the only path to the realization of the Chinese dream.Externally, a Pew Research survey indicates that the international view of China and Xi Jinping has only worsened in the recent past. Of special note, is the fall of perception regarding China, in Japan, South Korea and Australia. The external environment is not conducive to being kind to China
At the outset, the general understanding is that this meeting will re-anoint Xi Jinping as the uncrowned king of China. The real issue is beyond that. The prime factor is that the ‘Xi Jinping thought’ will dominate thereafter. Xi has already stated that China has never been closer to completing “national rejuvenation” and “Chinese dream” than now. Major achievements and valuable experience gained under Xi’s leadership towards this goal are being highlighted. However Xi has also stated that “major challenges remain and the last mile would be full of perils and challenges”. By 2049, when the PRC is 100 years old, it should be “a strong, democratic, civilised, harmonious and modern socialist country” and should be the foremost global power as per Xi. When the world is dominated by a Sino Centric order, the “Chinese dream” of rejuvenation will be considered as achieved.
Other significant thoughts of Xi Jinping are to enforce communism with Chinese characteristics, exercise complete state control of institutions, use hard military power through the strongest Armed Forces on earth, make China a strong economic power, dominate great power relations in the Chinese bid to establish a Sino centric global order. Economic liberalisation, unbalanced material culture and wide inequity are to be jettisoned. Xi Jinping’s watchwords like “anti-corruption campaign”, “common prosperity”, “victory over Covid”, “a new model of win – win cooperation” , “dual circulation”, “revenge on the century of humiliation” and so on will get a resounding thumbs up during the Congress. Xi Jinping will be enshrined as one of the most consequential and important leaders of modern China. Xi will be showcased to have surpassed Deng in building up China to fight with the evil world outside. In all this big talk, there is a constitutional amendment also on the cards to enable Xi’s rule for life.