SPEAKING
FREELY Xi
Jinping - the world's most powerful
man? By Lewis McCarthy
Speaking Freely is an Asia Times
Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
When faced with the
question "who is the most powerful man in the
world?" many would be quick to suggest Barack
Obama, after all, he is the president of the
world's most powerful country and its largest
economy. The banking community might suggest
someone entirely unfamiliar to the vast majority
of us, Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and CEO of
Goldman Sachs - a man who perhaps still qualifies
as a "master of the universe" and who exerts great
influence over banks, businesses and world
finance.
Perhaps some would suggest Mark
Zuckerburg, the creator of Facebook, since he
probably knows more about your social life
than you do. Until his
untimely death we might have included Apple
founder Steve Jobs, or looked towards the global
influence of Bill Gates, who is investing his
personal wealth in Third World health and
development and in economies only a fraction of
the size of Microsoft.
These men all have
the undoubted credentials but they are still only
mere contenders, there is one man truly in front
when it boils down to real tangible global and
domestic power - Xi Jinping.
Xi is the man
widely expected to succeed Hu Jintao as party
general secretary and become state president of
China in 2013. Taking charge of the economic and
political conundrum that is communism's most
capitalist country, he is tasked with leading
one-fifth of the world's population, while
directing China's complex foreign policies and
steering its flourishing economy to even greater
heights over the next decade. He will need to be
sure-footed - China announced new growth targets
last month of 7.5% annualized for 2013. As if this
isn't enough responsibility, Xi Jinping is also
ultimately in charge of three of the global top 10
largest companies - Sinopec, State Grid and China
National Petroleum- each of which are part
state-owned.
So who is he? Xi is
the the son of a prominent former revolutionary
who formerly served as head of propaganda in the
communist party. He graduated in chemical
engineering (many of China's leading figureheads
have been or are engineers) and also holds a
Doctorate from Tsinghua University in Beijing - an
institution, along with Peking University,
considered China's Harvard/Yale equivalent.
In a time where politics and politicians
must be "trendy" and in touch with the zeitgeist,
Xi ticks the boxes. He does not tweet like Obama
or cycle to work like David Cameron (to do so in
China would be shameful for a politician), but as
far as Chinese politics go - he's cool. After all,
he is married to popular Chinese Folk singer and
cultural icon Peng Liyuan. They are a political
"power couple" that put Tony and Cherie Blair,
Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni or even Barak and
Michelle Obama in the shade. After all, Peng holds
a rank equal to major general in the People's
Liberation Army.
What can we
expect? Xi has strong leadership
credentials and his rise through the Communist
Party is a reflection of that. He has held several
high-profile roles in Chinese politics such as
governor of Fujian Province, secretary of
Zhejiang's Provincial Committee and secretary of
Shanghai's Municipal Committee. These are three of
the most prosperous areas in the country and he is
notable for having overseen continuous growth in
the regions. No doubt preparation for the top job.
China as a country should expect the same -
although as the economy is restructuring, it may
be at a slower and more complex pace than what Xi
is used to.
He is characterized typically
as someone who is relatable and who enjoys aspects
of American culture such as action films and
basketball. US policy watchers will see in him
similarities with Deng Xiaoping who privately
enjoyed much about the American mainstream
including music and Hollywood. However, very
little is known about his private life. What can
be determined are Xi's core governance strengths,
first, he is regarded as someone who "gets things
done" - while the regions he has overseen have
traditionally always been strong, their
accelerated and sustained growth and his personal
ascent are not coincidental.
He is a
winner. Even so he remains reserved and measured
in his judgements. Xi has not been outspoken on
difficult issues such as minority unrest and the
question of religion in China. He is said to
sympathize with these causes though and is
expected to take a pragmatic path when he assumes
office. Finally, Xi is firm, one of his selling
points has been his determination in tackling
corruption, most notably within government during
his years of provincial management.
Domestically, China will expect more of
the same as growing concern about the wealth of
party officials has fueled demands for a
toughening up on graft both inside and outside
government. For Xi, there is no better way of
gaining base level support than facilitating this.
If he can effectively address rural poverty and
encourage economic growth in poorer areas of China
enabling more people to aspire towards middle
class incomes , Xi will be the figurehead of an
extremely good decade for "the Middle Kingdom".
While the world economy tip-toes to slow painful
recovery China is striding ahead. As the gap
narrows between America and China, this is likely
to become the most competitive tenure that any of
China's recent leaders have faced.
Xi may
come to demonstrate that he is the world's most
powerful man. He certainly has unbounded levels of
responsibility and fortunately has the resources
available at home and abroad to make his global
mark.
Lewis McCarthy is
Columnist for China Foreign Trade magazine. He
serves on the committee of a small non-profit
organization that establishes links between
Chinese and UK government, businesses and
education institutes.
Speaking
Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows
guest writers to have their say.Please
click hereif you are interested in
contributing.
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