Fewsmith Quoted in NYT Discussing Xi Jinping
Joseph Fewsmith, Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in a New York Times article discussing Chinese President Xi Jinping and what to expect from his continued leadership.
The article, titled “As the West Stumbles, ‘Helmsman’ Xi Pushes an Ambitious Plan for China,” discusses Xi and China’s plan to push technological, social, and economic advances to improve the country’s global standing in a post-COVID world. Following a recent meeting, China’s Communist Party applauded Xi for his leadership and affirmed his role as the party’s “helmsman” who will steer the country through the pandemic to a state of technological self-reliance and economic dominance.
Xi has already moved to end the two-term limit on the country’s presidency, and Fewsmith remarks that his strategy has been to build trust and support among China’s elite to make the case for his continued leadership. As Fewsmith says, “the case for remaining on can be built around a sense of impending crisis when the experienced hand has to stay.”
An excerpt:
Mr. Xi, 67, has not publicly said how long he wants to stay in office. For now, though, he has made no move to nurture, or at least identify publicly, a successor. He still must build support in the elite for staying on. Mr. Xi’s recent rhetoric, suffused with warnings of risks to China’s rise, appeared to form part of that effort, said Joseph Fewsmith, a professor at Boston University who studies Chinese politics.
The full article can be read on the New York Times‘ website.
Joseph Fewsmith is Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University He is the author or editor of eight books, including, most recently, The Logic and Limits of Political Reform in China (January 2013). Read more about him here.