CHINA PRESIDENT Archives - Lokmarg

China’s Xi To Visit Saudi Arabia This Week

By LokMarg 6th December 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to reach Saudi Arabia on Thursday amid the tension between the US and the two countries.

According to CNN citing sources, Xi’s trip to Arabia’s capital Riyadh will include a China-Arab summit in which 14 Arab heads of state are expected to attend.
During the two-day visit, a China-GCC conference is also expected to take place.

Rumours of a Chinese presidential visit to the US largest Middle East ally have been circulating for months. Still, they are yet to be confirmed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and China.

Last week, the Saudi government sent out registration forms for reporters to cover the summit, without confirming the exact dates. The Saudi government declined to respond to CNN’s request for information about Xi’s visit and the planned summits.

The US and Saudi Arabia are still embroiled in a heated spat over oil production, which in October culminated in strong rhetoric and traded accusations when the Saudi-led oil cartel OPEC+ slashed output by two million barrels per day in an effort to “stabilize” prices. The decision was taken despite heavy US campaigning against it, according to CNN.

In July, US President Joe Biden paid a visit to Saudi Arabia where he raised the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi during his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Biden said that he believed the Saudi leader was responsible for the US-based journalist’s death.

“I raised it at the top of the meeting, making it clear what I thought of it at the time and what I think of it now,” Biden said in a speech after hours of meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince in Jeddah.

US relations with China have also been strained not only with Saudi Arabia. China and Saudi Arabia have also taken different stances to the West regarding the Ukraine war. Both have refrained from endorsing sanctions on Russia, and Riyadh has repeatedly maintained that Moscow is a key energy-producing partner that must be consulted on OPEC+ decisions, reported CNN.

Following last month’s massive oil cut, some US officials have accused Saudi Arabia of siding with Russia and aiding President Vladimir Putin with his war on Ukraine.

Saudi officials have denied either weaponizing oil or siding with Russia. (ANI)

Xi Jinping More Powerful Than Mao Zedong: Analysts

By LokMarg 27th October 2022

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping’s historic third term as China’s President will likely see more hardline policies out of Beijing on the economy, foreign relations, and human rights, analysts told Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA).

On Sunday, Communist Party Xi Jinping presented the Party’s new central leadership at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where he secured a historic third term as the country’s top leader.
Top aides of Xi were promoted in Communist Party of China’s Politburo Standing Committee but no woman could find a place in the top leadership position for the first time in years, according to the newly released list by state media.

Through the 20th National Congress, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has demonstrated that Chairman Xi Jinping is the nucleus of power in China and that none can dare stand against him.

Xi had packed the Politburo Standing Committee with his close allies showing that he can now act as he pleases, according to Germany-based ethnic Mongolian rights activist Xi Haiming.

“This is the last madness,” Xi Haiming told a recent political forum in Taiwan. He said, “Xi has emerged, naked, as Emperor Xi, as a dictator.”

“Too many people in China are lining up to be his eunuchs, kowtowing to him, waiting for the emperor to ascend to the throne,” he was quoted as saying by RFA.

China is now firmly back in the Mao era, according to a Chinese journalist, who refused to be identified due to fear of reprisals.

“This 20th National Congress is the beginning of the Mao era,” Geng said. “People used to say it was the 9th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party that was bad because it hailed Mao Zedong as the red sun.”

According to analyst Wen Zhigang, the old system of “collective leadership” is well and truly dead.

“Collective leadership no longer exists, and the leader sits, aloof … a leader of the people who is above the party,” Wen said.

According to senior China researcher Wu Guoguang, Xi has more say over who gets to be premier — his second-in-command Li Qiang — than the late supreme leader Mao Zedong did.

“Xi Jinping wields greater power to appoint his preferred premier than Mao Zedong did,” Wu told RFA. (ANI)

Challenges Loom For Xi Jinping Ahead Of 20th Party Congress

By LokMarg 9th September 2022

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is set to convene its 20th Party Congress next month in Beijing, the country’s top decision-making body announced last month.

During the Party Congress that is held every 5 years, Chinese President Xi Jinping is likely to secure a third term in office as President while a new top leadership line-up will also be unveiled.
Ahead of the national congress, Xi Jinping is already calling for cadres in leading positions to remain loyal to the spirit of the party.

If reports are to be believed, the need for the maintaining spirit has arisen for growing discontent over Xi Jinping’s policies. Writing for InsideOver, Federico Giuliani contended that all is not smooth in China.

“The infighting within the party is going on and the fight between Xi Jinping, General Secretary, and the faction of Jiang Zemin, former CCP head; and another one is the fight between Xi and Li Keqiang, China’s Premier,” he argues.

Since the Chinese chairman assumed power, he has centralized power and made CCP and government less flexible. He has transformed it into a top-down institution led by a single dominant leader.

“The congress is an event held once every five years at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to set major policies and select top leaders – including the roughly 370-strong Central Committee and 25-member Politburo,” said Giuliani.

Even Xi’s call for persistence and his overarching goal to prevent social unrest and political doubts is intensely debated among China watchers. Experts believe that it may take longer for economic activity to fully recover from the impact of stringent lockdowns and the harsh Zero Covid-19 strategy.

Despite a rise in the party membership of the CCP, President Xi has expressed concern over the loyalty of party members towards him as he continues to bid for the third presidential term.

The party members often have two types of loyalty. The first includes loyalty to the party and the second to Xi himself. However, it is crucial to note that most government job positions in the country require the individual have a party membership.

Giuliani said the battle for the 20th Congress is not over. “While Xi’s securing of a third term is virtually guaranteed, the success of those he will seek to promote is less so i.e. he will not get up around him all the folks that he wants,” he concludes. (ANI)