Venezuela tests Xi’s superpower dreams

Idon’t know that a 203-minute speech is really anybody’s idea of a good time — it’s certainly not mine. Thankfully, for those of us who (unlike more than 2,000 audience members and hordes of Chinese schoolchildren) didn’t have to sit through Xi Jinping’s address to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the take-away is simple: Xi is in charge, and his vision of what China is and will become will hold sway at least until 2022, when the next Congress will be held.

Beyond solidifying his power, Xi also solidified his legacy, getting written into the CPC constitution the pre-eminence of “Xi Jinping Thought,” which has echoes of Mao and “Deng Xiaoping Theory,” which was added to the party constitution in 1997. But what exactly is “Xi Jinping Thought”? In the broad strokes, it means a more outward-looking and globally involved China, something Xi has extolled for a while. Yet his confirmation and rhetoric in Beijing this week suggests that China’s commitment to globalization is part-and-parcel of its ambitions to become a true global superpower.

In a world where the geopolitical map is shifting, as western powers like the U.S. and U.K. seem to be withdrawing from internationalism, that’s important — and could redefine the global economy for decades to come.

Part of Xi’s vision, not surprisingly, involves a stronger and more globally engaged military, which he has vowed to fully modernize by 2050. But the other part of global engagement is economic expansionism, and the timing, at least, couldn’t be better. China clearly sees a strategic opportunity to fill the vacuum on the global stage created by Donald Trump.

With the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Trans Pacific Partnership, China was given an opening to strengthen its trade position in Asia; with the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord, China was between China, Africa and Europe. China Development Bank has already earmarked nearly a trillion dollars for hundreds of projects. Along with state-owned enterprises, China is eyeing ports, repaving roads and building rail lines throughout the region.

Under Xi, China has also become a major lender to developing countries elsewhere, including in Latin America. That has not always gone well. Case in point: Venezuela, to which China has loaned more than US$60 billion, and which accounted for more than half of all China’s lending to Latin America between 2007 and 2015. Now, of course, Venezuela is in turmoil. Inflation is running in the four digits, and the country is in real