The China Piece of the Trade War

Are Chinese are gearing up politically for the long term?

As the trade war between the US and China intensifies, I believe the best thing for me to do is write about the Chinese. The US is an open society; information from the US flies into your eyes and ears even when you’re trying to avoid it. China is quite different; you won’t have any good information on China unless you seek it out.

Let’s begin.

Xi’s Point of View

Unlike his predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, Chinese president Xi Jinping is not very pro-business. Jiang Zemin opened up China’s economy and got them into the WTO. Xi is a different person. He removed the two-term limit on the presidency and declared himself president for life. Xi is also a “cannibal”—he eats his own, politically speaking. He purges anyone from his party who poses even a potential threat. After shoring up his power, he furthered the cult of personality around himself. Xi centralized power and emphasized state control over various sectors. Children in school were made to read “Xi Jinping Thought,” and he put images of himself all around China. Xi is very much a power-and-politics kind of guy, within a society that’s all about appearances. The government can never admit they’re wrong, and things have to appear a certain way.