The current General Secretary of the Chinese CP is the most powerful leader in several decades. The challenges before him are formidable, but the return of the cult of personality guarantees the support of millions
12.06.2017
JAVIER IBÁÑEZ
Beijing
Read original article at The Confidential
THE PURGES, OF A VIRULENCE NOT SEEN IN YEARS
Some say that he is an egomaniac who has not hesitated to take on critics and rivals.. Others, who is a visionary leader who will make China the first world power through his political and economic reforms. He is the one who has reduced social freedoms until he is compared to Mao Zedong, but also the one in charge of preventing the country from falling into a devastating economic crisis. Despite its relevance, four years after becoming the president of the most populous country in the world, Xi Jinping is still a great unknown.
Xi Zhongxun's son, war hero expelled from the Communist Party in the years 60 and rehabilitated in 1978, Xi was not accepted as a member of the organization until 1974. Supported by his lineage, His rise was meteoric and, with a moderate speech, few could anticipate the drift that the now Chinese president would take once he reached his current position. Considered a weak leader, the appointment of Xi as General Secretary of the Communist Party - the prelude to the presidency- in 2012 came somewhat unexpectedly, even though his name, along with Li Keqiang as prime minister, They appeared in the majority of the pools of the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, celebrated that year.
“Xi Jinping's arrival to power came as a surprise to many.. Although they rarely come to light, Power struggles within the Chinese Communist Party are frequent. On the one hand there is the so-called 'Popular Circle', formed by names like Hu Jintao or Li Keqiang, who made their career from the base, y por el otro el de los 'Príncipes Rojos', like former president Jiang Zemin or Xi Jinping himself, children of well-positioned members who use their influences to rise. These two factions seek to occupy the greatest number of relevant positions and the appointment of Xi in 2012, beyond the surprise, “caused some fear in the ranks of the Círculo Popular”, assures Zhang An, political analyst and researcher at Jinan University in Guangdong.
Little was known then about the man who, nowadays, He is considered by many to be China's most powerful president since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.. To increase the mystery about his person, shortly before the change of president the country, something that, except surprise, It only happens every ten years., Xi Jinping disappearance.
It was September 2012 and , today, Nobody knows exactly what happened to the then vice president in those days, two months after his appointment. Theories range from a back injury while swimming to a hypothetical assassination attempt.. Whatever it was, forced Xi to cancel high-level meetings such as those he was supposed to have with the then US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, or the president of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong. After two weeks of government silence, The Chinese president appeared on a Saturday morning in Beijing, as if he had never left, during a visit to the University of Agriculture of the capital
Xi's three pillars
The unexpectedness of Xi's rise to power was seen by many as a sign of weakness, something that the new president was in charge of solving quickly, to the concern of a large part of the Chinese political establishment and international observers.. Xi Jinping has since linked power to his figure, breaking with the image of collective government that emanated from the Chinese political elite and moving away from the cult of the person that Mao Zedong had advocated.
She further , his anti-corruption campaign, intended to “clean” the Communist Party from corrupt elements or, as other voices point out, “to eliminate possible political rivals”, has meant withdrawing the Government's favor from families who had counted on it for decades. Finally, its attack on individual freedoms in pursuit of national security and “social harmony”” have led China to stop its slow but continuous opening and set off alarm bells among pro-human rights organizations, that warn of a return “to the dark years”.
“The Government has drafted and enacted laws that pose serious threats to the protection of human rights.”. The wave of repression against activists and lawyers continues […] and people who were dedicated to activism have been systematically harassed, guarded, intimidated, “arrested and detained”, Amnesty International includes in its report China 2016/2017.
Added to all this is China's double strategy regarding its international image.. Abroad, The country wants to demonstrate the growing power of its armed forces, led by Xi himself, and expand its economic influence at a time when the United States appears to be reeling under Donald Trump.. Behind closed doors, nationalism, the creation of the so-called “Chinese dream”” y la exaltación de un patriotismo apoyado en el concepto 'wuwang guochi', that asks “not to forget the historical affronts" that Japan and the West have inflicted on China, are the ingredients to “shield” to public opinion in the face of any criticism of the Government made outside or inside the country.
“Xi Jinping has never hidden his desire to emulate Mao Zedong in some aspects.”, especially in carrying out an updated version of Mao's famous phrase in 1949: 'Put the house in order before having guests'. Various sectors have pointed to the loss of the socialist ideology of the rulers and it seems that Xi wants to redirect the country down that path and do so by controlling each and every aspect of the change.”, explica Zhang.
¿Return to Mao's principles?
The movements of the Chinese president within his country are viewed with concern from other latitudes and, although it is considered unlikely, Parallels have been established with the construction of the cult of personality carried out by Mao Zedong and which led to the Cultural Revolution, a ten year chase (1966-1976) against intellectuals and members of the Party, including Xi Jinping's father, accused of betraying revolutionary ideals and which resulted in figures that, although they vary depending on the sources, They speak of two million deaths directly from the purges and persecutions and tens of millions of victims.
The “cleanup movement”” carried out by Mao, according to several analysts, It has its updated version in the anti-corruption campaign promoted by Xi since he came to power and in the belligerent tone of the Chinese leader when addressing issues such as the disputed territories of the South China Sea or the always complicated relationship with Japan.. In recent years, the creation of mechanisms to anonymously report corrupt officials, foreigners suspected of being spies or anti-regime activists remember the time when neighbors, co-workers and even family members took advantage of any disagreement to denounce a close person, establishing a “state of fear.”” under Mao.
The tentacles of the almighty’ Xi have served, besides, to eliminate potential rivals or critical elements. From 2013, more than a million public officials have been convicted, with names as relevant as the star, fall from grace, of the Communist Party, Bo Xilai, expelled from the Party in 2012 for abuse of power and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2013, o Zhou Yongkang, former Minister of Public Security, convicted of bribery, corruption, abuse of power and disclosure of state secrets in 2015, among them.
in 2016, China was ranked 79, of a total of 176, in the index prepared by Transparency International on the perception of corruption, and with the aforementioned figures, the Chinese executive gains muscle and tries to whitewash the face of an institution, The Communist Party, whose economic achievements are their only legitimation in front of society. However, There are many who continue to see this campaign as an excuse to cleanse the Party of corrupt people., but of those who may threaten the leadership of the current president.
"The so-called 'Panama Papers'’ revealed that senior officials, current or past, of the Communist Party, They had companies in tax havens, among them a brother-in-law of the current president. There is a general belief that within the Party a large part of its members are corrupt to a greater or lesser extent., so if the strategy of pursuing corruption were really effective, “China would be left without politicians”, afirma Xu Mingming, sociologist and professor of law at Peking University.
The purges: from politics to society
The search for “discordant elements”” It has not stopped in the political class, But Chinese civil society has experienced a setback in the slow opening that the country had experienced in recent decades.. National and foreign media, NGOs, journalists, human rights activists and, even, the lawyers in charge of defending them, have become an object of control by the Chinese authorities.
The past 3 of May, Lawyer Chen Jiangang was detained in Yunnan province and forced to drive under surveillance for more than 3.000 kilometers to Beijing, where he was in custody during 80 hours. That time of detention meant that the lawyer could not attend his client's trial., Xie Yang, whose torture at the hands of the Chinese police Chen himself had denounced months ago.
After the trial, Xie Yang repeated a formula that has become quite popular under the current administration.
The accused poses in front of the cameras and acknowledges that “foreign agents” or otherwise brainwashed, that all the accusations made by him against the government are unfounded and that, of course, at no time has he been tortured. This mechanism, the result of which is broadcast on television, has been used, For example, with the Swedish activist Peter Dahlin or with the Hong Kong editor Gui Minhai, who was detained in Thailand while, it is believed, was preparing a book critical of the Chinese president.
In recent years, illegal arrests, The disappearances and the sentences of those critical of the regime have been toughened to limits not remembered since China began its “Reform and Opening Up.”” at the end of the years 70. Internet, the last great hope, It has also been the object of excessive Chinese zeal.
“The government's action on the Internet in the last two or three years has been spectacular. Hundreds of websites have been closed for not having a license and most social networks and services require a real name and ID to register, so it is perfectly known who is behind each comment or article that is published. She further , “Restrictions on accessing foreign websites have also increased and the Chinese Internet is increasingly resembling a large Intranet.”, reconoce Lu Xia, developer at a VPN company (virtual private networks, used in China to connect as if you were in another country and thus avoid censorship).
Control at home, expansion outside
Raising patriotic sentiment and ending dissenting voices is the recipe that Xi Jinping applies at the national level. Outward, The Chinese leader wants to build an image of a country feared militarily and desired economically. At a time when the Chinese economic model is beginning to show signs of exhaustion, Its leaders have focused on the international expansion of Chinese companies and the promotion of domestic consumption as keys to maintaining the good health of a country that, since the beginning of the century, has multiplied its GDP by seven and maintained the same growth percentages close to ten percent between the years 2003 and 2011. To 2017, and if the forecasts are met, China will grow below 7%, modest figures for the Asian giant.
Among others, Xi Jinping has presented his “Belt and Road” initiative” as a star project for expansion towards the West. With a notable presence in Africa, where trade and joint projects with nations like Equatorial Guinea, Angola or Congo grow exponentially, or in Latin America, where brazil, Chile and Bolivia are important trade partners of Beijing, the Chinese executive seeks to go one step further.
Flying the flag of “development and joint benefit”, China has resurrected the idea of the ancient Silk Road to design a project that will affect, according to Tian Guoli's estimates, president of the Bank of China, a 4.400 millions of people in 65 countries. with this plan, Beijing, with Xi Jinping at the helm, seeks to give oxygen to its economy while extending its influence throughout Africa, Europe and Latin America.
“The idea of the Belt and Road represents an economic challenge but also an unbeatable opportunity for China to connect, definitively, the success of its development to that of the economies of other countries. In addition, "It is a great opportunity to consolidate China as the main world power at a time when the European Union is going through a model crisis and is looking for a path to follow and the United States is experiencing a period of uncertainty after the election result.", comenta Chang Longwei, economist.
Xi Jinping, if tradition is fulfilled, will remain in power until the year 2022. However, There are several voices that suggest that the Chinese president's mandate could, even, go further. With an important part of the population unwaveringly supporting its leader as long as the economic boom lasts and an international community that condemns with less and less force the abuses against human rights committed within the country., The Chinese leader continues to burn stages in his plan to turn the country into the first world power and, personally, become the most powerful leader in Chinese history.
