On October 18, 2017, Xi Jinping, China’s president, will open the Communist Party’s congress, an event that occurs every five years. At this event, China’s political delegates from across the nation will convene in China’s Great Hall of the People to review and revise the party’s constitution, and to elect the country’s sectional leaders. It is also possible that Jinping will announce his successor, however unlikely. And while Jinping is positioned to lead for another five years, the event may reshape Chinese politics.
Jinping sees himself as China’s next transformational leader, and plans to increase military spending and establish China as a prominent world power. His primary objective, however, is purely national. He wants to solidify his party’s loyalty. The reshuffling of China’s congress may provide the Communist party, and Jinping, the opportunity to ensure the communist party’s “100% loyalty”.
Jinping’s other objectives, including increased military and state power, may pose a threat to western democracy. Jinping sees democracy as a threat to his leadership. He, aware of the causes of the USSR’s dismemberment, seeks to augment the government’s power over China in order to stay in office. Similar ideologies were seen in the Soviet Union under Stalin, and more recently, in North Korea. Jinping plans to spend billions on other nation’s economies, similar to the US’s Marshall Plan, in order to gain some control over eastern Asia. Additionally, the president is planning to construct more military bases internationally, constructing China’s first permanent international base in Djibouti during his last term. Jinping, now wielding the world’s largest stockpile of foreign currency and largest population under one major party, may step to challenge the U.S.’s status as the foremost world power.
Despite political differences, China and America are not enemies. US presidents have been known to praise Chinese leadership, including many remarks from Nixon, Carter, and Clinton. The U.S. finds its largest trade partner in China, and the U.S. continues to rely on Chinese products in its economy. We must ask ourselves, are we comfortable with the direction China’s leadership is going? And if not, what must we be prepared to lose?
What are the possible outcomes of China’s change in local leadership?
What connections can be drawn between Jinping’s goals and the objectives of the U.S.?
What do you predict POTUS’s response to Jinping’s objectives will be? Why?
2. While the political statuses of China and the U.S. are polar opposites, the two countries have about the same frame of mind on what they want to accomplish. It is clear that China wants to reestablish itself as a leading power in the world. Through the spending on foreign countries, China wants to be able to exert control on its neighbors, much like the U.S. has done. The matter boils down to this: China wants to be a stronger global power than it is currently and essentially take control of the East much like the U.S. has done with the West.
ReplyDelete3. The current POTUS, unfortunately, sees the globalist tendencies of Xi Jinping as an affront to American world dominance and will be outraged by their ambition challenge to the status quo. Instead of matching the efforts of the Chinese and trying to outspend and outsmart them to remain the greatest nation on Earth, the highly isolationist president and his Republican party will fail to see the error of their ways until it is too late. I think that America is headed for a less expansive presence in the world stage soon, and will unfortunately lose their position of great power.
ReplyDelete3. I believe that the Presidents reaction to Jinping's objectives will be very negative. In other words, Trump would feel that China's desire to expand and control its power is threatening to the supreme power that the Unites States holds in the world. If China continues to go forward with their plan on expanding their power, then the President could ruin a relationship between two countries. Trump can do this by making an absurd comment in the media or tweeting about his opinions and going to any extent that will make him feel powerful. For Trump, it is important to maintain the USA as a powerful position in the world and not let any other country pose as a threat to that power.
ReplyDelete2. The rhetoric in use by Jinping mirrors many world leaders today. There is a sharp rise in nationalistic leadership throughout the world is deeply troubling, mirroring conditions before the first world war. Both Trump and Jinping promise their citizens that they will improve the global position of their country. The US is now arguably the world leader, if one were to be selected, and while Trump vows to secure this position, Jinpings speeches point to his crosshairs being on a similar target. Though China and US are tenuous allies, China's ambitions and oppressive government could give a future or current US leader incentive to engage in a conflict between the two. As the US becomes closer to India, a tense rival of China's power in the region, and more aggressive towards North Korea, an ally of China, a conflict, whether by proxy or full blown engagement, doesn't seem impossible.
ReplyDelete2. One of the similarities between China and the US is that their leaders aim to change. For example, Obama was known for promising change, and Trump promised change as well. Xi Jinping views himself as a "transformational president," which means he believes he's revolutionarily changing China. Moreover, Xi Jinping aims to secure the power of the Communist Party, which is similar to how the two major parties in the US want to secure power for their own party (like how gerrymandering benefits one party).
ReplyDelete1. Jingping is hoping to establish China as a world power like the US. Although, democracy is a threat to his expansion of governmental power and thus his success. While Jinping hopes to achieve power on a global scale through the unyielding loyalty of the Chinese people, the US democracy encourages dissent, and uses other assets to establish their power.
ReplyDeleteWhat connections can be drawn between Jinping’s goals and the objectives of the U.S.?
ReplyDeleteChina's change in local leadership has been a call to assert China as a more influential and respected World Power. The United States is very famous for being involved in World affairs and like this, China would like to get more involved. While they have similar goals, China and the US are unalike in many ways. They have very different definitions of freedom and do not assert power in the same way.
3. In my opinion, I think that POTUS will not do much in response to Jinping's objectives. Due to our close relationships with China in regards to trade, I think that Trump will not see it fit to retaliate against Jinping. Furthermore, Jinping has not taken much action to gain his objective's, which ultimately doesn't give Trump a reason to react yet.
ReplyDeleteWhile there are various differences in terms of government and politics in China and the US, Xi Jinping’s goals are very similar to the objectives of the US: establishing/maintaining global power and influence. The US is a leading world power and China is working to establish themselves as one as well. In order to expand their powers internationally, Xi plans to invest on foreign economies, similar to what the US has done. Additionally, by seeing himself as “China’s next transformational leader,” Xi is essentially the figure of change, much like what President Obama had been and what Trump had promised to be.
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