THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Xi claims ultimate authority, adopts Maos title helmsman
THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Xi claims ultimate authority, adopts Mao’s title ‘helmsman’
By Bill Gertz
Larry Ong, a senior analyst with the U.S.-based Chinese political risk consultancy SinoInsider, said the addition of the titles used by Mao are part of Mr. Xi’s drive to consolidate his power indefinitely.
“By ‘borrowing’ from Mao, Xi is looking to boost his ‘power-prestige,’ or ‘quan wei’ — the sum total of an official’s formal and informal power, authority and prestige,” Mr. Ong said, adding that use of the title does not mean Mr. Xi wants to become a new Mao.”
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“Nine years after Xi Jinping took office, we can now say that a ‘Xi faction’ is emerging,” said Mr. Ong . “If Xi does take a third and even fourth term, he will lay a foundation that would allow the ‘Xi faction’ to dominate the regime in a similar fashion to what the Jiang faction did in the previous two decades.”
China watchers say the remnants of the Jiang faction remain the greatest threat to the Xi regime and will try to stop Mr. Xi in the lead-up to the 20th Party Congress next year, when the question of a third term will still give them influence, Mr. Ong said.
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“Unfortunately, most Chinese people on the mainland would not know that Beijing had mishandled the pandemic due to CCP propaganda,” Mr. Ong said.
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“Moreover, the party is currently capitalizing on the pandemic to advance its global domination agenda,” Mr. Ong said. “And part of this involves promoting its ‘successful’ handling of the pandemic and so-called institutional advantages.”
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