(for immediate release)
In advance of the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a twice-a-decade event, scheduled to open on October 18 and last one week, I am keen to observe how and if it might bestow on the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, an increase in power and status akin to that once held by the former chairman and founder of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Tse-tung.
Pyramid of Power
In the one-party system, the party congress serves as the determinative decision-making gathering and takes place only once every five years. The NPC (National People’s Congress) subsequently will add its affirmation to all decisions made at the party congress.
The country’s power structure has already elevated the current President’s stature above that of his predecessor, Hu Jintao. This year’s congress happens at a unique point in history, as the United States in 2017 has actively been withdrawing from globalization, whereas an enhanced empowered leader in China is intent on assuming the global leadership role being vacated and the international trade advantages that come along with it.
In fact, China has
already been working to create a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), an ambitious modern-day global
economic initiative taking some inspiration from the old “silk road”, a
development strategy focused on connectivity and cooperation between Eurasian
countries.
The upcoming
congress will determine economic policies touching everything from China’s
banking system and financial regulations to its tactics in dealing with
multilateral trade issues to how assertive the nation wishes to be globally,
including establishing a new international development institution modeled
after the World Bank.
Therefore, although
the upcoming congress is mostly characterized as China's central power
struggle, it will have a significant impact on world trade, especially the
Sino-America trade relations.
China Faces Challenges
In addition to the
worrisome ever-growing debt that threatens to further slowdown the growth,
China is also inflicted by widespread corruption in the system. President Xi
himself clearly understands such threats, and has in the past few years enacted
unprecedented anticorruption efforts.
At the September 15
Future of Asia Conference in Santa Monica, California, attended by Toolots,Inc., the company where I
recently started working, journalist and author John Pomfret cited a
“significant amount of fraud in the Chinese system,” something the current
anti-corruption effort is trying to address.
As a result, how
will the upcoming congress handle anticorruption is another keenly observed
topic. Will President Xi switch gears on the anticorruption campaign by
claiming it has achieved its primary goals and focus on the economy and growth
once again, or will he continue with the current intensity of the campaign?
Regardless of its
outcome, the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party
of China is a key world event that needs to be closely watched by companies
that have both large and small stakes in the US-China relations.
