XI JINPING is now in his third term as General Secretary. This may sound unimportant to your average Filipino, but I would argue otherwise.
Xi Jinping’s third term is effectively a return to the Mao era, because he broke two rules.
First, is the age limit of 68, which major China Communist Party (CCP) leaders have observed for two decades. Xi is 69.
Secondly, the Chinese General Secretary is supposed to have a two-term limit. Xi is now in his third term.
China is now in a state of exception, that is to say Xi has transcended the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) rule of law and can now control China’s direction through fiat.
The question now is, what does Xi want?
So far, analysts can only make guesses based on his cabinet appointments.
Most are reportedly from the military. This can either mean he’s planning military action sometime in the future, or he wants to keep it close to him, to further crush his domestic enemies (see my last article: Hu Jintao has left the building).
Aside from the military, there is also China-US relations to consider. It’s unlikely that Xi will repair its ties with the United States. Indeed, I think the US is likely to decouple faster with the Chinese, and depending on America’s domestic and ideological trajectory, I expect it may be permanent.
For the Chinese, though, I doubt Xi will do anything that can undermine his power, which is why I think the PRC will remain stable in the immediate future, though at the expense of economic growth. That is until the geopolitical situation changes, in which case I wouldn’t be surprised of a fight over Taiwan or the East Philippine Sea. After all, a return to Maoist era politics will most likely lead to Maoist era foreign policies./PN
