Chinese socialism with Xi characteristics

CPC Futures is a one-stop guide to understanding the changes in China's domestic and foreign policy directions and their immediate and long-term effects for the world

CPC Futures: The New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

Editors: Frank N Pieke & Bert Hofman

Publisher: NUS Press, Singapore

Pages: 202

Price: S$28
 

The 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded in October 2022. The outcomes of the Congress were on expected lines, with Xi Jinping continuing as the President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the General Secretary of the CPC for a third term. During the 19th Party Congress, Mr Xi had abolished the term limit on the President’s office and secured his tenure for life. Even at the 20th Party Congress there was no indication of the next generation of leaders. As Joel Wuthnow observes in his essay, “At some point during or after the Party Congress, Xi could attempt to protect his legacy by announcing a successor, but would then have to assume the risk of his own influence being diluted by the presence of a leader-in-waiting,”

Since Xi Jinping became president, there have been major changes in domestic and foreign policy directions and objectives of the Chinese government which have major immediate and long-term effects. CPC Futures: The New Era of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics is a one-stop guide to these policies and what Mr Xi hopes to achieve. Though the book was published before the 20th Party Congress with the aim of discussing the major challenges and changes underway in China under Mr Xi and the probable outcome of the Congress, it still offers a nuanced insight into the future.

Most of the policies and changes covered in this edited volume remain relevant and have a major impact on the direction of CPC. Frank N Pieke, professor of Modern China Studies at Leiden University, and Bert Hofman, professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School at the National University of Singapore, rightly conclude that “whatever serious factional opposition Xi may have faced in the summer of 2021 seems to have waned, and no serious challenge can be expected to Xi’s third term in office in the run-up to the Party Congress.”

The book’s 24 chapters, attempts to gauge every initiative and policy change that CPC has undertaken since Xi came to power and does justice to them. Though the chapters may appear a tad short, they are effective since each author focuses on a specific issue. The major theme that connects these various chapters is how and why Mr Xi introduced these policies, what he hopes to gain from them and how they impact the CPC’s global positioning. A concluding chapter would have helped integrate the vast range of topics that the book covers.

The book is an essential collection for anyone who is interested in China and the CPC. As Nis Grünberg and Vincent Brussee rightly argue, “… the Party leads everything, and Xi leads the Party” underscoring the idea that Mr Xi has total control over the CPC and has centralised most of the decision-making power. It covers a range of issues from economy, political development, the social credit system, PLA reforms, technology, innovation, state-owned enterprises, dual circulation, common prosperity, cyberspace, foreign policy and global presence of the CPC.

The book underscores the argument that national security is one of Mr Xi’s major agendas. According to Jude Blanchette, “Xi’s expansive vision of national security is institutionalising a hostility towards the foreign and the new at precisely the time that China must further embrace both if it is to modernise its economy and governance system”. He has also “elevated national security to the same level as development,” says Tia Ming Cheung.

The title of the book is appropriate because it makes readers consider the direction in which the CPC is headed. How will the rise of China and the abandoning of the Deng Xiaoping dictum of “hide your strength and bide your time” under Xi Jinping affect the CPC as well as the global order? The relationship between the United States and China, for instance, is complicated. Xiaoyu Pu offers an interesting understanding of this relationship: “For the Chinese, the West has always been a significant source of both desire and resentment.”

China has become increasingly assertive under Mr Xi, and this has had a major impact on China’s foreign relations. Richard McGregor’s argument hits home the hardest when he states that it is not the Chinese political model which Beijing wants to export to the world, but “China will set and export technological standards, political values and the rules that go with them; over time, China will talk less about the benefits of the current rules-based order, and more about its own rules. That by itself, will mark a seismic shift in the global order.”

The book covers such a wide range of topics that it has something of interest for everyone, whether you are interested in the CPC’s internal dynamics, foreign policy, China-US relations or Chinese society and the economy. It does a great job of laying out the range of changes introduced by Mr Xi, how these call for a renewed study and attention towards China and also how these changes have transformed China in the last decade.

The reviewer is assistant professor, OP Jindal Global University