Xi begins a new mandate in China focused on the economy and the rivalry with the United States.

As he begins his new term as the president of China and the most powerful leader in decades, Xi Jinping it is showing signs of preparing for an era of superpower strife, even as it seeks to revive a battered economy.

There has never been any serious doubt that Xi, as dominant as any other Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, he would be approved for a third five-year term as state president at an annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, the highest legislative body.

By October, he had already secured another five years in the more powerful post of General Secretary of the Communist Party.

Friday the 2,952 congress delegateschosen for their loyalty to the ruling Communist Party, they kept their promise and voted unanimously to keep Xi as president.

But with his personal power seemingly secured, Xi faces the urgent challenge of boost the Chinese economy, which has been reeling from three years of tight restrictions on the covidcrackdown on real estate developers and tech giants and an escalation of tensions with the United States and its allies.

Xi used last week in Congress to project his determination to revitalize China’s economy.

This message was accompanied by a rallying cry for the nation to unite around him to face the challenges raised by Western powers who he says are trying to contain the rise of China.

Some Chinese and foreign investors hoped the desperate need to restore growth would lead Xi to ease state control over the economy and take steps to ease geopolitical tensions.

At least for now, Xi has hinted that even as China tries to fix its economy, it is willing to address the problem. sanctions and restrictions imposed by the United States on Chinese companies and its growing military deployment in Asia.

Xi and the president Joe Biden They had tried to defuse tensions, but their efforts were overwhelmed by controversies over a Chinese surveillance balloon and the Biden administration’s accusation that Beijing was considering sending deadly support to Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.

Chinese Foreign Minister qin bandhe said this week that Beijing “has not supplied weapons to either side of the conflict”.

“This period will be important to see whether or not Xi repents. I don’t expect much of the essentials to change,” said Christopher K. Johnson, a former CIA analyst who is a senior fellow at the Center for Analysis. in an interview of China by the Asia Society.

“Xi is not in a ‘offensive charm‘ in which he seeks to right the error of his ways”.

Lawmakers are set to approve a 7.2 percent increase in China’s military spending this year, which will boost the People’s Liberation Army’s potential to project its power away from China’s shores.

Xi also said that China has faced a “Containment, encirclement and total suppressionby the United States and its allies.

“In the coming period, the risks and challenges we face will become more and more numerous and bleak,” Xi said, urging officials to continue “calm and focus“, as he prepared for the “fight”.

To meet these challenges, Xi stressed the need for China to stop relying on Western technologies and knowledge and become stronger against food and energy security risks.

He has populated the upper echelons of government with his loyalists and allies to advance his agenda.

Xi’s number two, the new Chinese premier Li Qiang, should focus on growth.

The party’s broad policy of “zero COVID” lockdowns and quarantines led to less than expected growth of 3% last year.

Unemployment among urban youth rose to nearly 20% in the worst months of 2022.

“I am optimistic that as soon as the National People’s Congress ends and Li Qiang fully assumes power, China will launch confidence-building measures private sector,” said Wang Xiangwei, former editor-in-chief of Hong Kong newspaper The South China Morning Post.

“If you want to boost China’s economy, you have to rely on the private sector,” Wang, who now writes a newsletter on China politics, said in an interview.

“However, the private sector has been hit so hard that words alone are not enough to allay their concerns.”

Xi and his top lieutenants have yet to offer concrete answers to China’s private business community’s deep-seated concerns about the increasingly intrusive role government and restrictions on private investment.

The government required companies to transfer a small stake and a seat on the board of directors to the government and ordered companies to promote and consult closely with Communist Party cells in their workforce.

Even if China tries to restore investor confidence, many of these policies could be sustained.

Kou Chien-Wen, a professor at National Taipei Chengchi University who specializes in China politics, said of China’s leadership:

“As they now face what they see as a dangerous environment at home and abroad, they are really taking steps to concentrate power, not loosen it.”

c.2023 The New York Times Society