President of China
No Less Than World Domination: What Xi’s Speeches and Training Books Reveal About China’s Real Goals
Slightly tilted head, slight smile: Xi Jinping (left with Vladimir Putin) in Uzbekistan.
© Alexandr Demyanchuk/Sputnik/AFP
Outwardly, China’s head of state Xi Jinping presents himself as a “responsible” leader, but speeches and books for the leading cadres show that his Communist Party wants to roll out its system globally. There’s even a date.
After two and a half years of self-imposed isolation, one of, if not the, most powerful man in the world has traveled abroad again. In the Uzbek Silk Road city of Samarkand, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a counter-G7 of sorts, is meeting and an opportunity for Xi Jinping to further close ranks with anti-Western allies. One of the most important photo ops was with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. So the head of state of China posed in his typical pose: his head slightly tilted, a hint of a smile on his face, his arms close to his body. As always, Xi looks like he can’t hurt a fly.
Xi Jinping can also be very clear edge
As is so often the case, the president from Beijing chose mild words for the harsh reality. He pledged “energetic support” to his aggressive war partner Russia, at least “in questions of core interests.” China wants to work with Russia “to demonstrate its responsibility as a major country, to play a leading role and bring stability to a turbulent world,” Xi said graciously. None of this sounds like an unconditional yes to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, but it doesn’t sound like a clear no either. The head of state and party leader has so far avoided this anyway. But Xi Jinping can definitely get a clear edge, and what he then formulates as a goal is likely to cause fear and anxiety in the West.
The Chinese president has nothing less in mind than the destruction of the United States and the liberal world order, as is clear from speeches and as yet untranslated textbooks from which the The Diplomat page quoted. Although Beijing propaganda and the state leadership have for many years asserted that they renounce communism and want to act globally as a “responsible representative of interests”, Xi leaves no doubt “internally” that these are just empty appeasement formulas.
“Community of destiny for all mankind”
Xi’s long-term goal for the Communist Party (CP) is to “build a community with a shared future for all mankind.” The now numerous textbooks on his doctrine, known in China as the Xi Jinping Thought, explain the path as follows: “The common destiny for all mankind will shape the interests of the Chinese people and those of the people of the world so that they are one and the same .” In other words, the Beijing leadership wants to roll out its system, which is considered superior, globally.
“Xi Jinping’s Thoughts” can also be found in handbooks for officers in the Chinese military. The chapter “Great Power Diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics” states that China’s system is superior and that Western democracy must be supplanted. “Xi Jinping points out that the transformation of global governance systems is impossible without guiding people’s minds,” it said.
China plans world domination by 2049
“The realization of communism is the Party’s highest ideal and ultimate goal,” Xi said in a speech at the 2017 CCP Congress [der Kommunismus, Anm. d. Red.] to fulfill will be the greatest undertaking in the history of human society. It will also be the most difficult and complex mission of all time.” The CP has even set itself a time frame for the “mission”: The party wants to have achieved its ambitious goals by 2049, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
In view of such almost megalomaniacal projects, it is no wonder that the intelligence services of the United States and Great Britain only last summer declared China the “biggest long-term threat to the United States and its allies in Europe and the rest of the world,” according to FBI chief Christopher Wray said at a joint press conference with his British colleague. Although by that time Putin’s troops had been unlawfully occupying parts of Ukraine for more than four months, Russia was not worth mentioning to them. Apparently, Moscow has had its day as a serious enemy.
Showdown is only a matter of time
A few weeks later, the Taiwan crisis came to a head again. China leaves no doubt that it wants to “reunite” the island with the mainland, if necessary by force of arms. The US, in turn, has pledged to support the government in Taipei. A showdown between the two arch-rivals seems to be only a matter of time.