China: Xi follows Jiang's vices but what about his virtues?

Unlike Jiang, Xi has isolated China internationally. His aggressive foreign policy has particularly put off China's neighbouring nations, including India, Japan and South Korea. The economy of China is slowing today.

New Delhi, Dec 01: In the death of former Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin, China has lost indeed a remarkable political icon. Observers say that, picked up by the founder of communist China Mao Zedong's successor Deng Xiaoping, Jiang shepherded communist China reasonably efficiently during his rule from 1993 to 2003.

Jiang has several achievements to his credit. He helped evolve in communist China a system of collective leadership. He helped develop norms around the term and age limits for the country's leaderships. Jiang advocated a "Three Represents" theory. This theory expanded the Chinese Communist Party's political base of workers and the peasantry to include intellectuals as well as 'capitalists'.

During his rule, the Chinese economy grew rapidly. It witnessed China's entry into the World Trade Organization. He put China on a path of economic development that has finally led it to emerge as the world's second largest economy. He led China out of the international isolation that followed the 1989 massacre around Tiananmen Square in the country. This led to better understanding between China and the world's major powers.

Jiang's rule was quite meaningful for Sino-Indian relations. In 1996, he happened to be the first Chinese head of state to visit New Delhi since the two countries established diplomatic relations way back in 1950. During his visit, the two nations signed an agreement to reduce the tensions that had come to exist along their disputed border since China's India war of 1962. During his 1996 visit to New Delhi, the two countries signed four agreements.They included the one on Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in the Military Field along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

Regrettably, current Chinese President Xi Jinping lacks the virtues of Jiang. Unlike Jiang, Xi has isolated China internationally. His aggressive foreign policy has particularly put off China's neighbouring nations, including India, Japan and South Korea. The economy of China is slowing today. He has dismantled the system of collective leadership that Jiang had built. He has engineered an unprecedented third term in office for himself.

It seems Xi follows only the vices associated with Jiang. While marching forward politically, economically and diplomatically, the late Jiang saw to it that the Chinese Communist party retained its monopoly in the country. During his rule, in the nineties, there was harsh repression - including of the Falun Gong religious group - in the country. Jiang was part of the leadership responsible for the infamous crackdown on Tiananmen protesters. He had no compunction about coming down hard on any group that he saw as a threat to the Communist control in the country. During his tenure, there were numerous allegations of human rights violations against him, notably in Tibet.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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