Though there is little sign of the turbulence that marked the build-up to Xi Jinping’s anointment as party chief in 2012, the Chinese president faces a stormy year
Save time by listening to our audio articles as you multitaskIt will be a far bumpier ride than they would like. In recent weeks the rapid spread of Omicron, a highly transmissible variant of the virus that causes covid-19, has posed an unprecedented challenge to China’s much-vaunted “zero-covid” policy. Widespread lockdowns have added to the wobbles of an already shaky economy. Just this month Mr Xi contrasted the party’s rule with “Western chaos”.
Public opinion is hard to gauge, but there is little sign that the party’s policies on covid, Ukraine or the economy are widely resented. Many Chinese express support for the tough zero-covid approach. On social media, however, some grumbling circulates—despite censors’ efforts to stifle it.
Mao Zedong, for example, ruled China for nearly 27 years, despite the deaths of millions in a famine of his own making, bitter political struggles within the party and at least one attempted coup. Deng Xiaoping retained authority well after his retirement, despite public resentment of his bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and open criticism of his policies by conservatives in the party who saw them as a catalyst of the unrest.
Purges have continued. An 18-month “rectification” campaign of the domestic security forces ended late last year, aimed in part at rooting out those disloyal to the party and Mr Xi. Its most powerful targets included a deputy minister of public security, Sun Lijun, who was accused of leading a “political cabal” within the police , as well as Fu Zhenghua, a former minister of justice.
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