Xi Jinping consolidated his power two years ago and masterfully found a way to remove China’s “presidential two-term limit” back in the March of 2018. Lord only knows what kind of backroom wheeling/dealing, savvy political maneuvering/campaigning/horse-trading, and backstabbing/double/triple-crossing it took to accomplish the feat. Truly, my imagination runs wild wondering what those months leading up to the 2018 National People’s Congress looked like, there in The Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Yes, the Chinese Constitution forebode it. But in the end, through hook or crook, carrot and stick, Xi successfully amended the Constitution and removed the term limits. All but two of the 2,964 delegates of the National People’s Congress ratified the change. It can be done and was done. I sometimes wonder about those two delegates who held out. Whatever happened to them? Where are they now?
I am not the first to say this, and nor will I be the last, but this next century is going to be The Chinese Century. Similar to how 1900-2000 was the American Century, 2000-2100 will belong to China.
Sure, America’s not going anywhere. But it’s the beginning of the end, the same way the UK was never the same after World War II as its empire began to crumble. First, India went in 1947; Cypress in 1960; and then Kenya and Malaya (now, Malaysia) followed in 1963. A new world order had arrived with titanic shifts in global power structures as the stars realigned. Also, for reference, China’s population currently clocks in at ~1.39 billion compared to America’s 327 million. It’s simply inevitable.
What will The Chinese Century bring? Time will tell but one thing’s certain: Not since the USSR has western democracy and liberalism been significantly challenged in the way we’re about to witness. Everyone just kind of assumed democracy and universal human rights was “the right answer.” But is it? Authoritarian China has neither of those and is rapidly on its way to building a new global hegemony. But will China succeed? Undoubtedly: We live in interesting times.
