Many commentators have noted Xi is the most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping and even Mao Zedong. But a better comparison might be with the style and powers of the American president.
He wields enormous personal power, in contrast to the more collective leadership style of Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, has assumed an unprecedented profile abroad as the country’s chief diplomat and has been heavily promoted at home as the responsible face of the party and the government.
Xi is regularly portrayed in the domestic media carrying out ceremonial functions, inspecting military parades, welcoming foreign dignitaries, and demanding explanations from lower level officials in the event of disasters and political controversies such as the stampede in Shanghai at New Year, all the sorts of things that a U.S. president does.
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