Xi’s confidence is not without grounds. In the past five years, the Chinese leadership has made notable progress on a number of its priorities. Its much-heralded anticorruption campaign has accelerated, with the number of officials disciplined for graft increasing from some 150,000 in 2012 to more than 400,000 in 2016. Air quality in many of China’s famously smoggy cities has improved measurably.
Despite its long coast along the South and East China seas, much of China is landlocked and far from any port. Traditionally, the country has focused on strengthening its army. Now, however, it is prioritising a naval buildup that could allow it to rival the U.S. at sea.
China started building its third aircraft carrier, with a hi-tech launch system, at a Shanghai shipyard last year, according to sources close to the People’s Liberation Army. One of the sources said Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group was given the go-ahead to begin work on the vessel after military leaders met in Beijing following the annual sessions of China’s legislature and top political advisory body in March.
The Communist Party of China unveiled its new leadership, with perhaps the most notable points being the retirement of anti-graft chief Wang Qishan and the exclusion from the Politburo Standing Committee of anyone who would still be young enough to take over from President Xi Jinping in five years’ time.
The era of President Xi Jinping has begun. As he strode to the podium of the Great Hall of the People and delivered his extraordinarily long speech at the opening of the Communist Party’s 19th congress on Wednesday, Xi laid out an ambitious vision not only for his upcoming second term of five years, but more importantly for the next 30 years. China would become “a great modern socialist country” by the middle of the 21 century, Xi said to the applause of about 2,300 party delegates for the one-week meeting.
China’s first overseas military base in the small African country of Djibouti is “probably the first of many” the country intends to build around the world, which could bring its interests into conflict with the US, according to American intelligence officials.
China’s ongoing military leadership reshuffle, which has seen two heavyweights in the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) lose their commands in the past month, will help President Xi Jinping shake up the body, which controls the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), and increase his dominance of it, analysts said.
File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping
Xi Jinping will enter the Chinese Communist Party’s national congress in Beijing on Oct. 18 as the country’s most powerful leader in decades. When it is over, he hopes to emerge as the Mao Zedong of the 21st century. In the five years since the last party congress, when he was named general secretary, Xi has greatly expanded the powers of his office. He has fortified his political position by ruthlessly deploying an “anti-corruption” campaign that has snared acquisitive billionaires, rival party members and local government officials.
A grandson of Mao Zedong is among the “princelings” from China’s People’s Liberation Army who have not been invited to the upcoming 19th party congress. Major General Mao Xinyu is one of five senior military figures descended from or with close family ties to revolutionary generals or former state leaders who will miss out on China’s most important political event, which is held just once every five years.
The real lesson, therefore, that India should learn from the Doklam standoff is that it shouldn’t draw wrong conclusions. The BRICS Summit in Xiamen is not to be mistaken as a “kiss-and-make-up” moment. Deep down, India has a choice to make and China is watching closely. Should the Modi government go further down the road of trespassing into China’s core interests in the South China Sea, raking up Tibet-related issues and identifying with the United States’ containment strategy against China?
