In his first three weeks as China’s Communist Party boss, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) has shown himself to be more confident, direct and relaxed than his predecessor — but also quick to invoke nationalistic themes to win public support and legitimacy.
He has at least twice spoken publicly, and in heroic terms, about national “rejuvenation” and the “revival of the Chinese nation.” The phrase has been uttered by all of Xi’s predecessors as party bosses, but his frequent usage so early in his tenure is intended to “create cohesion” through nationalism, said Li Weidong, a political commentator and former magazine editor.
Political observers say the language Xi has used is mainly intended for domestic political consumption, but it has come at an awkward time for China internationally: tensions with its neighbors in the South and East China Seas have increased since Xi became general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party last month.
On Thursday, China told Vietnam to stop unilateral oil exploration in contested areas of the South China Sea and not harass Chinese fishing boats, the latest rhetorical shot at one of its neighbors as a result of the territorial disputes.
The ratcheting up of tensions derive in part from two recent changes in Chinese policy related to the region: the issuance of new passports that display a disputed map of the South China Sea, and new provincial regulations that appear to give maritime authorities broad discretion to board or detain foreign vessels operating in what China claims are its own waters.
Both of those policies predate Xi’s ascension to party secretary, but they have emerged at the same time that his rhetoric about national “rejuvenation” is raising eyebrows — if not yet outright alarm — among China’s neighbors.
“It hasn’t gone unnoticed, and the timing hasn’t necessarily been ideal,” a senior Western diplomat in China said of Xi’s recent rhetoric.
Xi mentioned “rejuvenation” in his first remarks after becoming party chief on Nov. 15, and then again in a scripted appearance last week with the rest of the new seven-man Politburo Standing Committee on a visit to an exhibit entitled “The Road Toward Renewal” at the National Museum of China.
The exhibit paints the past 170 years of Chinese history as a linear — but still incomplete — struggle from foreign domination to independence and economic prowess, a theme the party has trumpeted since it came to power more than 60 years ago.
Diplomats and some analysts acknowledged that even if Xi’s recent rhetoric is aimed at a domestic audience, there is always potential risk in using nationalism as a political strategy — “particularly now, at this point in China’s history, when it’s more confident, and some of its neighbors are wary,” the Western diplomat said.
Analysts in Beijing believe Xi’s domestic political strategy is clear enough.
“He’s using [these words] to move away from ideology,” said Chen Ziming (陳子明), an independent academic of politics in Beijing. “He knows that communist slogans don’t really have much status anymore among Chinese people, so he thinks playing the ‘national rejuvenation’ card is a better way to go.”
At the same time, analysts in China said that Beijing’s neighbors should separate the policies that have agitated them — the passports containing the disputed map, and the new maritime rules issued by Hainan Province — from Xi.
Neither controversy is of his making, they said.
The Hainan rules were not handed down from Beijing and they were a year in the writing, said Hong Nong (洪農), deputy head of maritime law and policy research at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies. And the new passports began to be issued by the Ministry of Public Security before the leadership transition last month.
“I don’t think these two things can be combined and regarded as a new posture of the Chinese government,” said Zhu Feng (朱鋒), at Peking University’s Center for International and Strategic Studies.
Even if Xi were inclined to a tougher stance in the region, it is probably too early for him to tweak a major policy, particularly one as sensitive as the South China Sea.
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Xi’s predecessor as party chief, remains as head of government until he also steps down from that role in March.
In the meantime, Hu’s people are still influencing foreign policy, said Taylor Fravel, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of