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Xi Jinping's enormous ambition is leading his country to ruin

WION Web Team
NEW DELHIUpdated: Jul 04, 2020, 07:30 AM IST
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File Photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

The end to absolute poverty is one of the founding missions of China’s Communist Party. Xi Jinping wanted to wipe it out in 2020 and that's not happening. China's economy has shrunk by 6.8 per cent.  

President Xi Jinping is China’s most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. He rose to power in 2013 and since then, he has focused his energies on proving to the world that the 21st century belongs to China.

And to achieve his mission Xi Jinping made three pledges.  

First: End poverty in 2020
Second: Ensure China’s rise a tech superpower
Third: Put china at the Centre of the world, with the Belt and Road initiative

End poverty in 2020

The Wuhan virus has bugged every single plan of Xi Jinping and now he is facing his toughest year. The biggest crisis of his career. China is falling behind in its race to defeat poverty.  


The end to absolute poverty is one of the founding missions of China’s Communist Party. Xi Jinping wanted to wipe it out in 2020 and that's not happening. China's economy has shrunk by 6.8 per cent.  

And for the first time this year, China did not set a GDP target.  Forget eradicating poverty this year, more people in China are becoming poor. According to one estimate, as many as 80 million people were out of work in China by the end of March this year. The end to absolute poverty is now a distant dream.  
 
Tech supremacy

China is falling behind in this too. Beijing set out to challenge America, but now it's on the back foot. Chinese tech companies are being banned — left, right and Centre.  Huawei was supposed to be the ticket to China’s world dominance on the internet.  But Huawei is now being banned. In one country after the other. The United States has led the campaign against Huawei.  Key allies — have backed America’s call.  Australia and Japan have banned Huawei.  New Zealand blocked Huawei from supplying to one company.  The United Kingdom — is reviewing its policy.  India has opened a new front in this fight — with a ban on 59 Chinese apps.  It could follow it up— with a ban on Huawei too.  

Reports say Indian leaders have discussed it.  This won’t just be an economic loss for Beijing.  It will also lose the chance to dictate the future of the internet.

And finally, Xi Jinping’s dream project The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) now turning into his nightmare the pandemic has turned Belt & Road— into belt and roadblocks.  

Projects are being cancelled, countries want their loan agreements reviewed.  The causalities are growing.

In February, Egypt postponed the construction of a power plant. 

Next month — Bangladesh cancelled plans for a coal plant.  Pakistan wants easier repayment terms.  They want loans on 30 billion dollars’ worth of power projects reworked.  Tanzania has cancelled a 10 billion dollar port project.  

In Nigeria, lawmakers have voted for a review on all Chinese loans.  Africa is the latest headache for Beijing.  It has given 145 billion dollars in loans to African countries. 

Now, most African leaders want Beijing to forgive the debt. When Xi Jinping took power — China was an economic superpower. 

It had allies on its side it got red—carpet welcomes at global forums.  But of all, that seems gone now. China is in the dock, the exporter of a deadly virus. A country that swallows foreign land and betrays allies. A country that violates human rights and targets minorities. Almost all of this — can be traced back to Xi Jinping himself.  Xi Jinping's enormous ambition is leading his country to ruin. At this rate, China will be a global pariah.  Ruled by a paranoid leader and the communist party.

Insecure, power-hungry and imagining threats at every turn.