Deng Xiaoping understood that a rules-based system was essential to avoid a repeat of the fanatical terror unleashed under Mao Zedong. But his conviction could not overcome his self-interest, and, as President Xi Jinping has shown, the institutional edifice Deng built in the 1980s turned out to be hollow.
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month, Xi Jinping will almost certainly be confirmed for a third term as the Party’s general secretary and China’s president. With that, he will become China’s longest-serving paramount leader since Mao Zedong, and the rules and norms that are supposed to govern the CPC regime will be shattered.
CLAREMONT, CALIFORNIA – At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China this month, Xi Jinping will almost certainly be confirmed for a third term as the Party’s general secretary and China’s president. With that, he will become China’s longest-serving paramount leader since Mao Zedong, and the rules and norms that are supposed to govern the CPC regime will be shattered.