Graduate student Benjamin Spacapan is pursuing degrees in business and law at Harvard University. Maintaining a blog on international affairs, Benjamin Spacapan has a longstanding interest in foreign policy as it relates to relationships with developing nations.
One recent development that has garnered attention throughout Asia and beyond centers on China and its return to the policy of “strongman rule.” At the center of this is Xi Jinping, who solidified his role as the most authoritarian Chinese leader in decades at the recent 19th Party Congress in Beijing.
As described by Forbes, Jinping now operates along the principles of "papal infallibility” with a new ideological concept of “Xi Jinping Thought” coming to the fore. In essence, this makes the stalled reform direction, which included liberalization and greater international engagement, more difficult to predict.
One thing is certain: from an ideologic standpoint, restoring China’s greatness is a central tenet. How this translates in the political, economic, and military spheres remains to be seen.
One recent development that has garnered attention throughout Asia and beyond centers on China and its return to the policy of “strongman rule.” At the center of this is Xi Jinping, who solidified his role as the most authoritarian Chinese leader in decades at the recent 19th Party Congress in Beijing.
As described by Forbes, Jinping now operates along the principles of "papal infallibility” with a new ideological concept of “Xi Jinping Thought” coming to the fore. In essence, this makes the stalled reform direction, which included liberalization and greater international engagement, more difficult to predict.
One thing is certain: from an ideologic standpoint, restoring China’s greatness is a central tenet. How this translates in the political, economic, and military spheres remains to be seen.
