What can China do to resolve a crisis that threatens not only the health and security of its people and economy, but the future of Chinese Communist Party and its leader Xi Jinping?
A new survey shows there is no material difference between the major parties’ China policies. Style and tone might be what matter, whoever wins the election.
A friendship far from flagging?
Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
Joseph Torigian, American University School of International Service
Beijing and Moscow have had a cozy relationship of late. A scholar of China-Russia diplomacy explains how Ukraine might affect that.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo before their talks in Beijing, China, Feb. 4, 2022, during the Winter Olympics.
(Alexei Druzhinin, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
The Chinese leader’s alignment with Putin would have sat awkwardly with previous leaders, who understood China’s best interests were served by avoiding costly entanglements.
Although Russia does not need Chinese military assistance in any potential invasion of Ukraine, Beijing’s political and economic backing is encouraging for Putin.
Making history: US president Richard Nixon meeting Chinese leader Mao Zedong in Beijing in1972.
White House Photo Office Collection (Nixon Administration)
A strong turnout by Chinese teams during the 2022 Winter Olympics could help build national pride in China — and, in turn, help Xi Jinping’s bid for a third term this year.
The Games are a potent political symbol of the Chinese state’s ambitions and authority.
Since becoming China’s top leader in late 2012, President Xi Jinping has centralized power to the point that it’s unclear when he’ll step down, or who might succeed him.
Kevin Frayer/Getty Images AsiaPac via Getty Images
The International Olympic Committee’s position is clear. Human rights be damned. Refugees be damned. The Games must go on. The rest is window dressing.
The western media has been reporting on Xi Jingping’s supposed ideological turn on bringing prosperity to all of China’s people. But his rule has seen sustained and large tax cuts on the wealthy.
Forced into the darkness?
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
New school textbooks in China focus less on the Chinese Communist Party and more on its figurehead Xi Jinping. The growing cultivation of a personality cult is reminiscent of the days of Mao Zedong.
The meeting of the leaders of the world’s most powerful countries hit all the right diplomatic notes, but there are still vast differences and disagreements to work through.
It is reasonable to assume Xi has close supporters within the party leadership. However, they are not as visible, for the most part, as was the case for Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.