Episode 43
The Rise of Xi Jinping and the Dawn of a New Imperial China | Elizabeth C. Economy
Episode 43
Elizabeth C. Economy
The Rise of Xi Jinping and the Dawn of a New Imperial China | Elizabeth C. Economy
summary
We may be witnessing the birth of a new imperial China, one that was brought about by the charismatic machinations of the nation’s leader, Xi Jinping. At the present juncture, it’s not exactly clear what Xi’s excessive centralization of power means or how his disruptive new policies will impact the rest of the world, but we can say one thing with certainty — international power dynamics are already starting to shift in response.
Xi’s tenure truly began in 2012, when he became the General Secretary for China’s Communist Party, which is the sole governing party in China. Today, he also serves as the head of the state and the head of the military. Taken as a whole, these are all of the most important leadership positions in the Chinese government. If that’s not enough, earlier this year, in a highly controversial move, Xi did away with presidential term limits. So, he may be president for life.
Because of the near-total control that Xi wields, he is able to keep both his adversaries in the government and the citizens he presides over on a tight leash.
He eliminates his dissenters using divisive anticorruption campaigns, he oversees massive propaganda operations rooted in fabricated news and events, and he denies his people access to information by censuring the internet behind a Great Firewall.
Although many Western nations may balk at such practices, they have their benefits. Ultimately, Xi’s illiberal maneuverings often allow China to outcompete nations that cling to liberal values. This fact forces world leaders to contend with a question that cannot be ignored: Can liberal nations keep pace with Xi’s imperial policies and ensure that power structures remain stable?
In today’s episode, Elizabeth Economy, author of The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State, joins Demetri Kofinas for an extensive exploration of Jinping’s top political, economic, and foreign policy priorities and the impact that his policies will likely have on the rest of the world.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
bio
Elizabeth Economy is the C. V. Starr senior fellow and director for Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Economy is an acclaimed author and expert on Chinese domestic and foreign policy. Her recently released book, The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State, (Oxford University Press, 2018) analyzes the contradictory nature of reform under President Xi Jinping. She is also author of By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest is Changing the World (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Michael Levi, and The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future (Cornell University Press, 2004; 2nd edition, 2010; Japanese edition, 2005; Chinese edition, 2011). Dr. Economy has published articles in foreign policy and scholarly journals including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the Harvard Business Review; and op-eds in the New York Times and Washington Post, among others.
Dr. Economy serves on the board of managers of Swarthmore College and the board of trustees of the Asia Foundation. She was also on the advisory council of Network 20/20 and the science advisory council of the Stockholm Environment Forum. She served as a member of the World Economic Forum (WEF)’s Global Agenda Council on the United States from 2014 to 2016 and served as a member and then vice chair of WEF’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of China from 2008 to 2014. She has taught undergraduate and graduate level courses at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Washington’s Jackson School of International Studies.
Dr. Economy received her BA from Swarthmore College, her AM from Stanford University, and her PhD from the University of Michigan. In 2008, she received an honorary doctor of laws degree from Vermont Law School.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Philosophi autem in suis lectulis plerumque moriuntur. Illa sunt similia: hebes acies est cuipiam oculorum, corpore alius senescit; Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Bestiarum vero nullum iudicium puto. Quid est igitur, cur ita semper deum appellet Epicurus beatum et aeternum?
Hoc ne statuam quidem dicturam pater aiebat, si loqui posset. Tollenda est atque extrahenda radicitus. Deinde disputat, quod cuiusque generis animantium statui deceat extremum. An tu me de L. Quid, cum fictas fabulas, e quibus utilitas nulla elici potest, cum voluptate legimus? Qua ex cognitione facilior facta est investigatio rerum occultissimarum. Iubet igitur nos Pythius Apollo noscere nosmet ipsos. Hoc loco tenere se Triarius non potuit. Gloriosa ostentatio in constituendo summo bono. Quasi vero, inquit, perpetua oratio rhetorum solum, non etiam philosophorum sit.
Quamquam tu hanc copiosiorem etiam soles dicere. Restincta enim sitis stabilitatem voluptatis habet, inquit, illa autem voluptas ipsius restinctionis in motu est. Hoc ipsum elegantius poni meliusque potuit. Sed tamen est aliquid, quod nobis non liceat, liceat illis. Tu enim ista lenius, hic Stoicorum more nos vexat. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Qua igitur re ab deo vincitur, si aeternitate non vincitur? Ergo et avarus erit, sed finite, et adulter, verum habebit modum, et luxuriosus eodem modo. Habent enim et bene longam et satis litigiosam disputationem.
Quid in isto egregio tuo officio et tanta fide-sic enim existimo-ad corpus refers? Quodsi ipsam honestatem undique pertectam atque absolutam. Sed vos squalidius, illorum vides quam niteat oratio. Idem etiam dolorem saepe perpetiuntur, ne, si id non faciant, incidant in maiorem. Mihi, inquam, qui te id ipsum rogavi? Idcirco enim non desideraret, quia, quod dolore caret, id in voluptate est. In omni enim arte vel studio vel quavis scientia vel in ipsa virtute optimum quidque rarissimum est. Homines optimi non intellegunt totam rationem everti, si ita res se habeat. Quando enim Socrates, qui parens philosophiae iure dici potest, quicquam tale fecit?
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quae cum praeponunt, ut sit aliqua rerum selectio, naturam videntur sequi; Graecum enim hunc versum nostis omnes-: Suavis laborum est praeteritorum memoria. Vitiosum est enim in dividendo partem in genere numerare. Nihil enim iam habes, quod ad corpus referas; Nam si amitti vita beata potest, beata esse non potest.
Sed quoniam et advesperascit et mihi ad villam revertendum est, nunc quidem hactenus; Huius, Lyco, oratione locuples, rebus ipsis ielunior. Gloriosa ostentatio in constituendo summo bono. Vitae autem degendae ratio maxime quidem illis placuit quieta. Est autem etiam actio quaedam corporis, quae motus et status naturae congruentis tenet; Videamus igitur sententias eorum, tum ad verba redeamus.
Quamquam id quidem licebit iis existimare, qui legerint. Nam, ut paulo ante docui, augendae voluptatis finis est doloris omnis amotio. Respondeat totidem verbis. Multoque hoc melius nos veriusque quam Stoici. Num igitur eum postea censes anxio animo aut sollicito fuisse? In motu et in statu corporis nihil inest, quod animadvertendum esse ipsa natura iudicet?
Sin kakan malitiam dixisses, ad aliud nos unum certum vitium consuetudo Latina traduceret. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Commoda autem et incommoda in eo genere sunt, quae praeposita et reiecta diximus; Torquatus, is qui consul cum Cn. Praeclare hoc quidem.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vide, ne etiam menses! nisi forte eum dicis, qui, simul atque arripuit, interficit. Quamquam haec quidem praeposita recte et reiecta dicere licebit. Nam si propter voluptatem, quae est ista laus, quae possit e macello peti? Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Nec vero alia sunt quaerenda contra Carneadeam illam sententiam. Ergo instituto veterum, quo etiam Stoici utuntur, hinc capiamus exordium. Ego vero volo in virtute vim esse quam maximam;
In quibus doctissimi illi veteres inesse quiddam caeleste et divinum putaverunt. At ego quem huic anteponam non audeo dicere; De quibus cupio scire quid sentias. Sapientem locupletat ipsa natura, cuius divitias Epicurus parabiles esse docuit. Sit hoc ultimum bonorum, quod nunc a me defenditur; Qui ita affectus, beatum esse numquam probabis; Ergo, inquit, tibi Q. Aut haec tibi, Torquate, sunt vituperanda aut patrocinium voluptatis repudiandum. Illum mallem levares, quo optimum atque humanissimum virum, Cn. Conclusum est enim contra Cyrenaicos satis acute, nihil ad Epicurum. Sed existimo te, sicut nostrum Triarium, minus ab eo delectari, quod ista Platonis, Aristoteli, Theophrasti orationis ornamenta neglexerit. Comprehensum, quod cognitum non habet? An est aliquid, quod te sua sponte delectet?
Sine ea igitur iucunde negat posse se vivere? Ea, quae dialectici nunc tradunt et docent, nonne ab illis instituta sunt aut inventa sunt? Quamquam in hac divisione rem ipsam prorsus probo, elegantiam desidero. Inde sermone vario sex illa a Dipylo stadia confecimus.
Miserum hominem! Si dolor summum malum est, dici aliter non potest. Item de contrariis, a quibus ad genera formasque generum venerunt. Quod cum dixissent, ille contra. Sequitur disserendi ratio cognitioque naturae; Semovenda est igitur voluptas, non solum ut recta sequamini, sed etiam ut loqui deceat frugaliter.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Utrum igitur tibi litteram videor an totas paginas commovere? Sed quid ages tandem, si utilitas ab amicitia, ut fit saepe, defecerit? Traditur, inquit, ab Epicuro ratio neglegendi doloris. Hoc est non modo cor non habere, sed ne palatum quidem. Duo Reges: constructio interrete. Ut non sine causa ex iis memoriae ducta sit disciplina. Non est ista, inquam, Piso, magna dissensio. Quo modo autem optimum, si bonum praeterea nullum est? Haec dicuntur fortasse ieiunius; Sed hoc sane concedamus.
Id enim volumus, id contendimus, ut officii fructus sit ipsum officium. Sint modo partes vitae beatae. Si mala non sunt, iacet omnis ratio Peripateticorum. Cupiditates non Epicuri divisione finiebat, sed sua satietate. A quibus propter discendi cupiditatem videmus ultimas terras esse peragratas. Quos quidem tibi studiose et diligenter tractandos magnopere censeo. Non igitur potestis voluptate omnia dirigentes aut tueri aut retinere virtutem. Ipse Epicurus fortasse redderet, ut Sextus Peducaeus, Sex.
Tum mihi Piso: Quid ergo? Ad corpus diceres pertinere-, sed ea, quae dixi, ad corpusne refers? An me, inquam, nisi te audire vellem, censes haec dicturum fuisse? Collatio igitur ista te nihil iuvat. Quae enim adhuc protulisti, popularia sunt, ego autem a te elegantiora desidero. Haec quo modo conveniant, non sane intellego. Aliter enim explicari, quod quaeritur, non potest. Saepe ab Aristotele, a Theophrasto mirabiliter est laudata per se ipsa rerum scientia;
Fadio Gallo, cuius in testamento scriptum esset se ab eo rogatum ut omnis hereditas ad filiam perveniret. Polemoni et iam ante Aristoteli ea prima visa sunt, quae paulo ante dixi. Sic enim censent, oportunitatis esse beate vivere. Quamvis enim depravatae non sint, pravae tamen esse possunt. Quare conare, quaeso. Sed ad haec, nisi molestum est, habeo quae velim.