China’s Xi seizes total power, threatens international order with economic strength, military power
By Christopher Flavelle
May 22, 2019 Updated: May 26, 2019
President Xi Jinping is expected to hand over power to Xi’s wife, with the eventuality of his children becoming emperor, to the Chinese public over fears of the spread of an unprecedented communist style of leadership.
The Chinese Communist Party holds the most important role in the governance of the authoritarian state. However, the party has been falling victim to a decline in its ability to shape and govern society in the public interest. There is a lack of political and moral leadership to direct an economy plagued with economic volatility. The public has become increasingly disenchanted with the party, and many are disillusioned with the leadership’s ability to govern with the rule of law and for the good of the people.
The Chinese public are disenchanted with the party following decades of increasing economic uncertainty since the Tianjin incident in 1989. The party’s economic growth has slowed since the late 1990s, largely due to a slowdown in development projects and reduced investment, particularly in infrastructure and urban construction. The public have grown dissatisfied with the economic policies instituted by the party in the past 40 years in order to maintain global political stability and have become increasingly skeptical of the party’s ability to govern for the benefit of the people.
The party began to suffer public discontent in late 2015, following the anti-corruption campaign following the death of an honest official in Tianjin. This provoked many to question the party’s ability to lead, and the public began demanding new leadership.
Following Beijing’s decision to increase its military involvement in the South China Sea to protect its claims against the United States and to maintain peace and stability in Asia and elsewhere, the Chinese public demanded an explanation and a response from the world’s second largest military power.
In 2016, the Chinese Communist Party was forced to admit that it was not leading the country in a direction of growth in order to survive. Xi, and a cadre of older, more conservative leaders who came to power in the past 40 years