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he previous Saturday ended in Beijing the twentieth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which has 97 million members. That day the nearly 2,300 delegates from all corners of its immense territory elected the country’s highest governing body and 1,300 million inhabitants. The meeting was led by Xi Jinping, who has been in power for 10 years. He was declared supreme leader, something that only Mao Tse-Tung had.
The delegates met for a week, but the fundamental issues were cooked up much earlier by a very select circle. They approved the basic issues and without any opposition. This is what also happens in other authoritarian regimes: unanimity around the rulers and repression of any criticism of the system.
In Beijing, the route that China will follow was defined with a view to celebrating in 2049 the centenary of the triumph of the revolution led by Mao. If that route is under the command of Xi Jinping, it is for good reason. During the 10 years of his leadership, he turned his country into the second economic, military and scientific power in the world and, in addition, its most important maquiladora and exporter of products. Your income per capita it doubled in the last decade and today it is 12 thousand 550 dollars; the economy went from 8.5 to 18 trillion dollars. The end of extreme poverty was officially declared and tens of thousands of peasants arrived in existing or new urban centers, in a massive migration unprecedented in its intensity and at a very high social and environmental cost. Let’s add modernization of your public infrastructure and critical services.
These enormous successes in the most diverse fields of human activity do not hide an abysmal economic distance. It is estimated that one percent of the population controls more than 50 percent of the capital. As in Vladimir Putin’s Russia, in Xi Jinping’s Russia the creation of billionaires in the shadow of power has been surprising. Some stand out for their excesses by showing off their enormous wealth. That social and economic distancing became evident when the covid had the country in severe trouble.
The closure of entire cities (completely isolated for many weeks and without the freedom of mobility of hundreds of millions) to contain the spread of the virus, caused very serious economic and social problems. And due to the drop in its exports, its economic growth contracted, which is reflected in youth unemployment, close to 19 percent of the labor force.
The strategy of the powerful Xi Jinping is to make his country the world’s leading power and increase the presence it already has in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Also, avoid signs of citizen disagreement with the economic, political and military model. And reincorporate Taiwan.
Achieving all of the above will not be easy, as it has several pending issues to resolve. Among them, respect for human rights, corruption and pollution that affects its inhabitants, biodiversity and the planet. It is the largest generator of greenhouse gases, which cause climate change. We will see these matters next Monday.
