Endorsing Putin reelection in 2024, Xi underlines his own greatest fear
Tom Rogan
Video Embed
Beginning a state visit to Russia on Monday, Chinese President Xi Jinping endorsed Vladimir Putin’s prospective 2024 presidential reelection. Sitting beside Putin, Xi observed that Russia’s “development and prosperity have made rapid progress. I am confident that the Russian people will definitely continue to support [Putin].”
There are two takeaways from that statement.
First, this is another indication of Xi’s broad support for Putin’s war on Ukraine and foreign policy. Were Xi to have any serious doubts about that war, he would have avoided making these remarks. Xi is not an idiot, after all. He knew his words would make heavy play in Russian state media coverage, something which now is occurring. Xi’s understanding of how his words help Putin hints at the second takeaway here.
CHINA’S NEW CYBER POLICY: OBEY XI AND BAN GLOBAL ‘DISINFORMATION’
Namely, that for Xi, there is no higher imperative than the publicly recognized and politically unquestioned retention of power. This imperative is underlined by Xi’s vast effort to consolidate power. It’s underlined by the ruthless efficiency with which Xi has dispatched actual or prospective political challengers under the guise of corruption investigations or anti-Communist Party activity. And it’s underlined by the subjugation of those who dare criticize Xi, even with satirical humor.
Xi is even willing to smash the Communist Party’s broader strategic interests in pursuit of absolute loyalty to himself.
Take Xi’s economic and scientific policies. Facing increased Western scrutiny of investment in and technological cooperation with China, Xi desperately needs to cultivate a better foundation for domestic economic growth and scientific research. Yet Xi cannot bring himself to allow that which would best facilitate these interests: facilitating individual innovation and free market principles. On the contrary, via both new party governance and escalated enforcement, Xi is cracking down harder on entrepreneurs and scientists who are seen as too independently-minded. Xi’s policy guidance encourages crackdowns not simply against those who are actually independently minded but against those simply perceived by party apparatchiks as such.
So yes, Xi may be happy to endorse Putin. But in doing so, he only underlines his deep paranoia about the assurance of unquestioned power.