Xi Jinping, a princeling turned Mao 2.0 in China’s ‘new era’

 

Beijing:  A decade ago when the powerful covert factions of China’s ruling Communist Party chose Xi Jinping as a compromise candidate to lead the party, few had an inkling that the suave and sedate “princeling” will cast himself on the mould of party founder Mao Zedong and bulldoze his way to become the leader for life.

On Friday, the 69-year-old “core leader” was endorsed by China’s rubber-stamp Parliament for an unprecedented third five-year term, a privilege accorded only to Mao by the Communist Party of China (CPC), as all his predecessors retired after two five-year terms.

But Xi will continue, perhaps for life, as a new powerful leader of the world’s second largest economy, heading the party, the military and the Presidency, which observers say will have wider implications for China internally and externally, especially for the immediate neighbour India, considering the aggressive postures struck by the Chinese military in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).