he great dictator sits
immobile as a buddha
while his minions glide
around the stage.
Watching Xi Jinping
through binoculars in
the Great Hall of the People in Beijing,
I marvel at his composure. It is 2014. Xi
has recently assumed power as the leader
of the world’s most populous nation and its
second-largest economy. From time to time
he turns a page as the speaker drones on.
Xi himself speaks only on grand occasions.
He never touches the porcelain mug of
tea before him (an iron bladder is one
requirement for leadership in China). Not
a glance, not a raised eyebrow betrays any
feeling. His handclap at the close is brief.
Enigmatic to the end, he rises and walks off
stage with a rolling, satisfied gait.
Fast forward to today and this is the man who
holds your fate in his hands. At Xi’s command, killer
satellites spin in the heavens, nuclear missiles crouch
in their silos, a fleet of new warships prowls the
oceans and the largest army on earth drills for wars
that will defy the imagination. He threatens Taiwan,
a democratic island claimed by China, risking a clash
with the United States. His agents round up Muslims
in China’s far west and jail dissenters in Hong Kong.
His decisions shake stock markets, move currencies,
make some nations wealthy and push others into
debt. When you go to the shops, the price of
everything you buy is influenced by him. Xi was
absent from the Cop26 climate conference in
Glasgow, but he can still change the air you breathe.
His team struck a deal with the United States to cut
methane emissions and save forests, but along with
India stymied a commitment to end coal use and
fossil fuel subsidies, agreeing only to a vague promise
that these should be “phased down” No man has
held such globe-spanning power in his hands before.
Xi, who rose almost without trace through the
bureaucracy of the Communist Party of China, has
emerged emperor-like on to the world stage, the most
authoritarian Chinese leader since Mao Zedong.
Earlier this month, Xinhua, the official Chinese news
agency, released a glowing six-chapter tribute to Xi,
cementing his personality cult in the communist
pantheon. Days later, at a special plenary meeting in
Beijing, the party rubber-stamped its approval for
him to embark on a third term as president next year.
China’s heads of state usually serve two five-year
terms, but Xi altered the constitution in 2018 to
remove the limit, paving the way for him to become
a “forever president” and dictator for life.
Yet Xi’s steely grip on power is more brittle than
the official narrative would ever allow. The challenges
facing him and China are immense. The country’s
demographics are terrible, the result of a cruel
one-child policy, now abandoned, that left it with an
ageing population and a lack of women due to
sex-selective abortion by families who wanted only
a son. China may be the first great power that grows
old before it has the chance to grow rich.
His regime claims to have crushed the
coronavirus pandemic, which was first reported in
central China, by a zero-Covid policy that has put the
country behind a great wall for almost two years; but
even if this works out, the unforeseen economicdistortions are apparent. Chinese drivers are
queueing for high-priced fuel, while the costs of coal
and other energy sources are crippling industry and
consumers are aghast at how much they have to pay
for pork and vegetables. The state is trying to crush
inflation by decree as it did the virus. Every day
ordinances stream forth from Beijing.
China’s economic growth model has been the envy
of the world, but it is partly built on a pile of credit and
speculative property that is cracking at the seams. The
giant Chinese property developer Evergrande is in
trouble, the firm’s bondholders are nervous. The US
Federal Reserve warns that stresses in China’s
property sector are a risk to global economic growth
and could strain the financial system.
For Xi and his core group it is all about survival.
They know what befalls those who lose out in
Chinese power struggles because they inflicted such
punishment themselves when Xi first took power.
His main rival, the ambitious politician Bo Xilai, now
languishes in a top-security jail serving a life sentence
for corruption and abuse of power, having been felled
by a scandal over the death of a British businessman,
Neil Heywood, in 2011. (The truth remains elusive.)
The secret police chief Zhou Yongkang, a Bo ally, is
also in a cell. Thousands of cadres, from generals to
city bosses, have fallen to Xi’s “anti-corruption” purge
amid suicides and ruin. For Xi, enemies are
everywhere. He has not left the country since January
2020, when he ventured to Myanmar. There is only
one course — rule for life, with no exit strategy.For Xi,
enemies
are every-
where. He
has not
left China
since
January
There is
only one
course —
rule for life
Top: Mao Zedong, who enjoyed a personality cult
similar to that now being manufactured for Xi.
Above: Xi Jinping, centre, at the 2017 Communist
Party congress with members of the Politburo
24 • The Sunday Times Magazine