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The Liberty Times
Editorial: What lies underneath Xi’s mask?
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is expected to take over as the top
leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) this autumn, recently concluded a
visit to the US, during which he held talks with US President Barack Obama. Xi’s
visit has brought him to the world’s attention, just as was the case when
then-Chinese vice president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) was welcomed to Washington by
then-US president George W. Bush in 2002.
Today, just like 10 years ago, the US and China have both used the diplomatic
occasion to play a game of give-and-take according to their respective
interests. The US leaders wanted to get on good terms with their new
counterpart, while Xi wanted to use his performance to prove his ability in
handling international affairs. The visit is also a sign that the rules of the
game for US-China relations over the next decade are gradually taking shape.
Who is this Xi? That is the question being asked not only in the US, as it
welcomed China’s incoming leader in the midst of a recession, but also by people
around the world and from all walks of life. Although plenty of research is
being done about Xi’s personality and way of thinking, it is still hard to find
much in the way of true and accurate analysis.
Just as Xi was visiting the US, the Washington Post and ABC television network
published a joint survey on the US public’s opinions about China. The survey
found that 52 percent of respondents did not like China, while 37 percent said
they liked it. The proportion of respondents who said they did not like China
rose by 3 percent compared with 49 percent at the time of Hu’s visit to the US
last year, while those who said they liked China dropped by 5 percent from last
year’s 42 percent. This is an indication of the growing unease that Americans
feel about China’s burgeoning economic and military power.
China is a fierce competitor for other countries, but they also have to
cooperate with it. That being the case, knowing whether China is going to change
when Xi takes over is not just very important for the US, but even more
imperative for Taiwan as it does its best to maintain its existence within the
international framework.
Western commentators’ observations about Xi focus largely on the following
aspects.
First, that he is the son of Xi Zhongxun (習仲勛), a key figure among the communist
leaders who established the People’s Republic of China. In other words, the
younger Xi is one of the so-called “princelings.” His father fell victim to
political criticism and struggle on more than one occasion, but was later
rehabilitated. These experiences have led to the elder Xi being categorized as a
relatively enlightened reformer, and people wonder whether he has had any great
influence on his son’s political beliefs.
Second, observers note that US Vice President Joe Biden met Xi during his visit
to China’s Sichuan Province in August last year. The message some people in US
political circles got from that meeting is that Xi seems to be a bit different
from Hu, with a more cosmopolitan and amiable style. Observers ask whether this
will open up new possibilities for interactions in US-China relations. Similar
questions are being asked in Taiwan. Since Xi once served in a leading post in
China’s Fujian Province, which lies just across the Taiwan Strait, he has had
dealings with many Taiwanese businesspeople and cultural figures. That being the
case, some people think that Xi must have a better understanding of Taiwan than
his predecessors, and hope that Taiwan will come under less pressure from China
as a result.
Those who have high hopes of Xi may like to refer to the pointed remarks he made
during a visit to Mexico in 2009, when he said: “There are a few foreigners,
with full bellies, who have nothing better to do than try to point fingers at
our country ... China does not export revolution, hunger, poverty, nor does
China cause you any headaches. Just what else do you want?”
Before his recent visit to the US, Xi used a written interview with the Post to
hit back at the US for strengthening its military deployment and military
alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
The examples show there is not much reason to invest a great deal of hope in Xi,
and that it is wishful thinking to do so. Those who think that way also make the
mistake of thinking that Xi is just someone that the collective leadership of
China’s powerful and wealthy class has picked to represent it. Based on the need
to consolidate the CCP’s eternal hold on power, safeguard its collective
interests and ensure that it is not challenged, Xi is likely to stick to the
idea that it is better to err to the left than to the right — all the more so at
a time when contradictions are springing up and sharpening all over China.
That is where China will not change. Where it will change is that the
58-year-old Xi is better than his predecessors at presenting and selling his
country’s policies to the outside world. This can be seen from his insistence
during his US trip of paying a return visit to the small town of Muscatine,
Iowa, where he first visited during a study tour in 1985, and the way he wrapped
up his trip by watching a Los Angeles Lakers basketball game.
What is true with regard to the US is all the more so when it comes to Taiwan.
Xi is expected to take over as General Secretary of the CCP in autumn and to
become president of China next year. Hu and former leaders have all been heads
of the “nine-person team” — the Standing Committee of the CCP’s politiburo — so
it can be expected that the trend to get softer on soft-line issues and tougher
on hard-line positions that we have seen under Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶)
will become even more pronounced in Xi’s hands.
It should also be borne in mind that when China’s leaders need to tackle the
complicated challenges they face on the home front, playing up the Taiwan issue
is the easiest way for them to distract people’s attention from the real
problems.
Xi visited the US with a smile on his face and projected a friendly image, but
some people who have a deep understanding of China’s current stage of
development, the way the CCP operates and Xi’s personal background define him as
a man who wears many masks, and this observation may be pretty close to the
truth.
As Xi gets ready to step up to the plate, we in Taiwan should ask ourselves how
much we know about him, and think about how we will respond to him. President Ma
Ying-jeou (馬英九) and his government, overjoyed as they are at having been
re-elected in last month’s presidential and legislative elections, had better
get over it now and start thinking about how they are going to deal with this
new adversary who is so skilled at presenting different faces depending on the
occasion.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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