Greatest Risk To Xi Jinping Is Himself: CNN

China’s economy is faltering. Unemployment is skyrocketing. Endless COVID lockdowns are wreaking havoc on businesses and people’s lives. The property sector is in crisis. Ties between Beijing and major global powers are under strain, Selina Wang stressed in an analysis for CNN.

Photo Insert: Xi’s solution to a party supposedly in a state of crisis was to return to dictatorial and personalistic rule.

The list of problems faced by the world’s second-largest economy goes on – and many of those long-term challenges have only worsened under a decade of Xi Jinping’s rule.

Yet, the Chinese leader’s grip on power is unwavering. In the past decade, Xi has consolidated control to an extent unseen since the era of Communist China’s strongman founder, Mao Zedong.

He’s the head of the Chinese Communist Party, the state, the armed forces, and so many committees that he’s been dubbed “chairman of everything.” And now, he is poised to step into a norm-breaking third term in power, with the potential to rule for life.

But absolute power can often mean absolute responsibility, and as problems mount, analysts warn Xi will have less room to avoid blame. “I think the worst enemy of Xi Jinping’s longevity in ruling China is Xi Jinping himself,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.

“It is when he makes a huge policy mistake that causes havoc in China that could potentially start the process of unraveling Xi Jinping’s hold to power.”

When Xi assumed power in 2012, China’s economy was booming as it integrated more closely with the rest of the world. Just four years before, China had stunned the world with the extravagant Beijing Summer Olympics.

But to Xi, the party was in a state of crisis: overrun by corruption, infighting, and inefficiencies. Xi’s solution was to return to dictatorial and personalistic rule.

He purged political enemies in a sweeping anti-corruption campaign, silenced internal dissent, abolished presidential term limits, and enshrined “Xi Jinping Thought” into the party’s constitution.

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