As Chinese President Xi Jinping furthers his progress on anti-corruption and reforms, some observers, pundits, and even the public have raised concerns over two critical issues. First, hunting too many ‘tigers’ might damage the public’s faith in the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership. Second, there are suspicions that Xi may intend to amend Deng Xiaoping’s idea of “collective leadership” and seek a more decisive or even autocratic role as the CCP’s top leader.
These are meaningful concerns that demonstrate the complexity and delicacy of Chinese politics, particularly with regard to this round of anti-corruption moves. But the more direct and meaningful question is: Where does Xi’s power come from? This is a very important point, as it connects to discussions of the overall political legitimacy of CCP leadership. Instead of a full analysis, I intend to give some preliminary ideas that might help us to understand the roots of Xi Jinping’s confidence, power, and political obligations as he carries out his ideas for the governance of China.
First, Xi has based his governance on an embrace of personal dreams. Ever since his emergence in China’s top leadership, Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the term “dream,” connecting his ideas for governing China with an acknowledgement of Chinese citizens’ ideals, pursuits, and dreams. This gives us good reason to believe that Xi Jinping has a strong streak of revolutionary idealism. This is not a put down; rather, I believe that it is exactly the character of revolutionary idealism (or, simply put, a strong personal dream) that differentiates a true statesman from a politician.
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