Published 11:18 IST, June 19th 2020
From 'President for life' to 'Xi Dada': How it's all gone downhill for China's Xi Jinping
COVID pandemic put enormous pressure on China, coupled with the border clash with India and various other exploits, could this the beginning of the end for Xi?
Xi Jinping's grip on power is uncontested and absolute, and as the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely, he is a testament to that. However, for a man named by Forbes as the world's most influential and powerful person, there is little transparency on how the premier nicknamed "Xi Dada" by his people for his dictator-like leadership rose to power. How a teenager "re-educated" by farmers in a remote village come to wield so much power nationally and globally is a story that's come to be oft-told in China
Owing to his shady past, it reportedly took the Chinese President no less than 10 attempts to be recruited as a member into the Communist Party of China (CPC). The leader has said so himself in a number of local interviews.
Though relatively unknown to the world a decade ago, he may have a few skeletons more than he would like to reveal. In 2012 when he was unanimously chosen as the party leader, it sent shockwaves across the country because until then he wasn't a very recognisable face - in fact, his wife - Peng Liyuan, a prominent folk singer, was far more renowned than him.
It won't be an exaggeration to state that in the last 50 years, Xi Jinping, son of a powerful communist revolutionary and a deputy Prime Minister, strategically carved his personal life as a farmer during the country's cultural revolution dating back to the 60s and 70s in order to allow himself a political vantage point through which he can steadily but surely rise through the ranks of the CPC and become the trailblazing statesman that he is now.
President Xi, arguably the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, was re-elected to a second five-year term back in 2018 by the country's politburo National People's Congress (NPC). Xi's ascent then rose many eyebrows as he quickly got the passing of a constitutional amendment that eliminated term limits for the presidency, thereby discarding a rule that kept check of red tape, corruption and underpinning the strength of a republic.
Here's a timeline of some key dates in Xi's life and rise to power:
1953 - Born in Beijing to considerable wealth and affluence owing to his father's position in the Congress, Xi grew up among the party elite and later shifted to a re-education camp by the government shortly before Mao's death to be groomed of the ways of the party.
1974 - Joins Communist Youth League
1976 - Graduates with a degree in Chemical Engineering
1976 - 2006 - Works for the party's propaganda and youth committees around the country, in particular Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
2007 - Relocated by CPC to Beijing with a promotion and a ticket into the Politburo Standing Committee (the most elite political body wth unilateral power in the country)
2008 - Xi's father's connections and his own merit position him as a likely successor to then-President Li Keqiang. However, he is snubbed when the time comes and is instead made Vice-Chairman of Central Military Commission.
2008 - Elected as the Vice President of the National People’s Congress.
In the following months after that, he is made General Secretary of the Communist Party as well as the Chairman of the Central Military Commission - a position which holds great reverence and power in the country.
2012 - Defining moment of his career. Xi cracks down on corruption in the party and launches campaign to remove corruption from top-to-bottom. The campaign is met with widespread approval and Xi was able to remove and punish thousands of officials on corruption and "disciplinary violation" charges, including Politburo Standing Committee member Zhou Yongkang (a likely opponent in the next elections). Xi uses the campaign to neutralise political opponents and clean out in their place include those who were more loyal to him.
March 14, 2013 - President
Elected as the 5th President of China, Aware that presidency being the least powerful roles, Xi acquired all three leadership roles that matter - head of the Communist Party, military and state - by the start of his tenure in 2013. This helped boost Xi's role symbolically and literally.
Power-hungry and wanting to take Chinese interests on the global stage, Xi soon promotes "Belt and Road" initiative aggressively and invests billions of dollars in trade and links throughout Central and West Asia, Africa and Europe.
2018 - Starts second term as president and with the help of his party's Congress, abolishes term limits despite concerns being raised privately within the party as well as among citizens. Xi swiftly quietens them by following up with arrests and blocking words such as "King", "lifetime president", " Winnie the Pooh", "uncle Xi", "Xi Dada" etc on the internet.
2020 - Xi's aggressive expansion approach continues to the South China Sea, threatens Indonesia, Philippines, challenges the US, stirs up territorial conflicts along LoC with India, namely the Dhoklam Standoff and the Gulwan Valley clashes. However, it appears his time may now be waning as he continues to rub shoulders with all the neighbours.
His regional exploits also include China's decision to forcefully reintegrate Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet. He has also cracked down hard on the Uighur Muslims living in Xinjiang province and opposes any dissent with extreme violence and brutality. Thus far, over a million Uighurs have been jailed and the area is constantly monitored and repopulated with Han Chinese communities in order to remove the Muslim identity in the region.
A staunch communist himself, he has reportedly shut down dozens of churches and mosques in the country and has locked up human rights activists for speaking against his government and his leadership.
China's post-COVID worries:
Due to the president's expounding enmity, China is fast losing friends ever since it took on its ideological partner Vietnam, and Australia and the US over maritime security threats, territorial issues and economic exploits, now leading all the way up to its role in the spread of COVID-19, further damaging its reputation globally, it has few steady allies to count on, and China has no one to blame but Xi.
His outreach programs both within the country and outside have resulted in a string of failures especially with Australia, America, several European countries and much closer to its lands in Vietnam an South Korea as well. Inside China, there are numerous rumours of competition and motive to overthrow Xi, making his position altogether weak and unstable. The pandemic has put unimaginable pressure on China with unemployment soaring higher than ever, taking Xi right into a sea of troubles with high tides and unsettling waves ahead. This could explain why the leader is so erratic in his COVID response.
Updated 11:39 IST, June 19th 2020