![]() ![]() Xi’s tool of ‘go-out’ foreign policy has been sharpened with economic heft manifesting in BRI (Belt and Road Initiative 2013), AIIB (Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank 2016), BRICS Bank (New Development Bank 2016) and claims over South China and East China Seas. Deng built bridges with the United States (1978), economically engaged Taiwan and negotiated the return of Hong Kong and Macau (1997-99). Deng chose to engage the world whilst ‘hiding (China’s) capacities, biding its time’. The shifts under Xi are better understood with reference to Deng. Xi’s domestic and external behaviour, including relations with India, should be read in this context. In 70 years of revolution and 40 years of reforms, China ‘stood up’ under Mao, ‘grew rich’ under Deng and is ‘rising strong’ under Xi. Xi’s ‘third revolution’ is explained by his grand festschrift to himself: ‘Xi Jinping Thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era’ (2017) – a declaration that China under Xi was different from China under Deng. Today, Deng may be at the receiving end, being buried by Xi Jinping’s ‘third revolution’. China’s post-1978 success was built on Deng ‘burying Mao’, ushering in China’s ‘second revolution’. "But people increasingly don't think it will make a difference.China’s moderniser Deng Xiaoping needs little introduction. "Deng's death is still a concern because no one really understands how China's political system works," Tai said. China's political stability is brittle and could break if Deng were to die at a sensitive moment, such as during the 15th Communist Party Congress next year, when President Jiang and other top leaders will be jockeying for power. ![]() The diplomat and other followers of Chinese politics warn against too much complacency. "It will not change China's political landscape." "Deng has not been an active participant politically for a couple, of years, so his death will not have a cataclysmic effect," said a Western diplomat based in Beijing. The Hong Kong stock market didn't flicker, Chinese intellectuals shrugged their shoulders and diplomats predicted that even if it were true, Deng's death wouldn't change the way China was run. In one of the biggest waves of rumors in 18 months, Beijing and Hong Kong were awash with tales of Deng's impending death, as well as the usual troop movements and leaders called back from vacation.īut even before the rumors were discredited, the overall reaction showed little anxiety. Two weeks ago, Deng's death seemed to be approaching quickly indeed. "And that there is a consequent feeling of vulnerability as the old man's death approaches." "I do have the general impression that the Deng family is feeling increasingly squeezed out of the loop these days," Baum said. The situation is not exactly parallel - Mao held on to the end, allowing his entourage to run China, while Deng seems to have relinquished control without a fight.īut the Deng family knows that its influence can only recede further. When previous maximum leader Mao Tse-tung died in 1976, his wife and nephew were locked up. The Deng family's fears are grounded in recent Chinese history, said political scientist Richard Baum of the University of California in San Diego. None of the Deng clan have been charged with wrongdoing, but the fact that they are no longer viewed as untouchable shows how the elder Deng's influence has all but vanished. Some observers believe that the current anti-corruption campaign, while badly needed, is also being used to strip the Deng family of power.ĭeng's niece Ding Peng, for example, has been mired in a corruption scandal since last year when an Australian partner was sentenced to 18 years in Chinese prison for corruption.ĭeng's younger son, Deng Zhifang, recently quit his business interests in Hong Kong after his company was tied to a corruption probe in China.Īnd son-in-law He Ping has apparently lost his job in a Chinese military firm after it was linked to a huge gun-running racket in the United States in May. Jiang has also positioned himself as the champion of clean government. "Jiang still pays lip service to Deng, but he realizes that he has to define himself and so has put an emphasis on stability rather than bold reforms," said Tai Ming Cheung, a political analyst with Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong. And in a break with Deng's emphasis on economics over politics, Jiang recently made a major speech ordering officials to "talk politics." China is in the midst of an old-style campaign to rid itself of "colonial" culture, ordering shopkeepers to purge their signs of foreign words. Many economists see this as a natural correction after nearly two decades of breakneck growth, but it goes contrary to Deng's spirit.Ĭulturally, the country is also growing more conservative. ![]()
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