Totalitarianism taking root

WHEN Xi Jinping became China’s president five years ago, there was reason for hope that Communist Party rule was gradually moving towards pluralism. Some criticism of government policies was permitted in the press and social media; scores of independent lawyers advocated for justice in the courts. A report titled China 2030, written by government experts issued months before Xi took power, concluded that “the government will need to transform itself into a lean, clean, transparent and highly efficient modern government that operates under the rule of law”.

Xi has indeed transformed his regime in the past five years, but in precisely the opposite direction. With the announcement on Sunday that a limit of two presidential terms will be removed from the Constitution, the 64-year-old Xi essentially became a president for life, in a return to personal dictatorship that China has not seen since Mao Zedong.

In his first term as president, Xi has crushed the foundations of institutionalism laid by Mao’s successor, Deng Xiaoping. An anti-corruption campaign provided cover for Xi to purge powerful rivals. The collective leadership that characterised the Chinese Communist Party for the past three decades has been dismantled, and a cult of personality has been built around Xi.

Under Mao and the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, absolute dictatorship failed. But Xi envisions a version driven by 21st-century technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in which his regime is investing heavily. Each citizen will be given a “social credit” score, with demerits for unapproved behaviour detected by cyber-monitoring or cameras with facial recognition. Through its “Belt and Road” initiative, which foresees the investment of hundreds of billions of dollars in countries across Eurasia, the regime will build its global influence and promote its political model.

Xi is offering a challenge to the liberal model of human governance at a time when its greatest defender, the US, is hamstrung by a president who appears not to believe in it. Asked about China, President Donald Trump boasted about what he called a “quite extraordinary” personal relationship with Xi. He had nothing to say about Xi’s ruthless consolidation of power. Proponents of freedom around the world will have to find ways to defend liberal democracy without assistance from the White House.