Europe has long wondered what to do with China, but now that Xi is becoming much more powerful than he already was, it is time to answer this question too.
Few people in the West would bounce at the words ‘Chinese Party Congress’, rubbing their hands. Countless men in suits who meet behind closed doors for days on end and clap for each other a lot, that just doesn’t look very spectacular. What really happens, meanwhile, remains completely opaque to the outsider.
Nevertheless, the importance of this Congress cannot be underestimated, because, as correspondent Leen Vervaeke wrote on Saturday, here the new emperor of China will be crowned: Xi Jinping will almost certainly be appointed party leader and president for another five years. This has not happened since Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China, and Xi amended the constitutional limit in 2018 to make it happen.
‘Never renounce the use of violence’
In a speech on Sunday, Xi made it clear which way he wants to lead the country. It’s all about ‘safety and security’, words he used dozens of times in his speech, and that means, as far as he is concerned, the army needs to be strengthened and the strict corona policy will not change. Xi wants China to reunite with Taiwan and will “never renounce the use of force.” Xi calls the crackdown on democratic reforms in Hong Kong the transition from “chaos to administrative order.”
It sounds like a continuation of his policies of the past ten years – and that gives little cause for optimism. China has become more nationalistic under Xi, the state is much more involved in the economy, the country is more aggressive outwardly and is developing into a rigid, totalitarian state with a one-man rule, where minorities are oppressed and media and NGOs have been silenced.
After this congress, Xi will be much more powerful than he already was, and will likely continue his course with even greater zeal. Other countries can’t change that, but now is the time for liberal democracies to stop and consider how they want to relate to China. After all, the ties are close through trade and economics, and China is also claiming more and more space on the geopolitical stage.
Sense of urgency is missing
The United States has been aware of this for much longer and has made China their top foreign priority for some time. Of course, Europe is also aware of such developments, but at the same time there seems to be a lack of sense of urgency. The focus is, understandably, on Russia, while we are just as dependent on China in many areas. Europe should realize that it may not have as much time as it would like. Xi’s growing power presents us with challenges, and yes, the question of what to do with them is already being asked, but it is time to answer them.
The position of the newspaper is expressed in the Volkskrant Commentaar. It is created after a discussion between the commentators and the editor-in-chief.