Eyeing US Chaos, Xi Quietly Maps Out His Vision
As the US presidential campaign devolves into chaos, with Donald Trump narrowly escaping an assassin’s bullet and Joe Biden facing calls to step aside, Chinese leader Xi Jinping quietly began mapping out his vision for the world’s second-largest economy.
As a closed-door meeting of top Communist Party officials kicked off today in Beijing, China’s state media seized on the opportunity to proclaim the superiority of the nation’s political system against the pitfalls of American democracy.
“This violence indicates that many people no longer believe that democratic processes can address their concerns,” the Communist Party’s Global Times tabloid wrote in a Sunday editorial, criticizing extreme polarization in a system it portrayed as deep in decay.
While China’s citizens can’t vote for their president — a simple fact the article failed to mention — the implicit bargain is that they will sacrifice political freedoms as long as the Communist Party raises their living standards.
That makes the Third Plenum, a four-day gathering of roughly 200 top party leaders, so important. In past years, it has often revealed significant policy pivots — such as when Deng Xiaoping paved the way to open the economy in 1978.
Major moves are not likely this week. Officials are set to rubber stamp Xi’s plan to propel Chinese manufacturing to the top of the value chain, as his government looks to overcome a property downturn and put the nation’s debt burden on a more sustainable footing.
China’s disappointing second-quarter growth data is unlikely to change that plan, despite calls from economists to step up support for boosting consumer spending.
One real risk to China’s manufacturing ambitions, however, is a wave of higher tariffs from the US and other nations.
Even as the US system faces a fresh test with this election cycle, hitting out at China is one of the few things that appears to unite Americans.— Jenni Marsh