Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.
One month after the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th national congress, Chinese state media have stopped calling President Xi Jinping “the people’s leader.” None of the newly published material on Chinese government websites contain the phrase.
It is a surprising development, considering that the phrase was repeatedly used in the lead up to, and during, the national congress. A senior official at the Central Policy Research Office, a party organ, called Xi “people’s leader” at a news conference. Chinese media used the term every day during the gathering. Even a song titled “people’s leader” was sung.
A source hinted that there has been an implicit agreement to refrain from promoting the phrase from here on.
When this development is taken into account, the recently concluded week of diplomacy in Indonesia and Thailand perhaps takes on a new meaning. After all, in China, diplomacy is but an extension of domestic politics.
The term “leader” or “lingxiu” was used by Foreign Minister Wang Yi, now a member of the powerful Politburo, when he wrapped up the achievements of the trip.
“The international community once again appreciates the outstanding demeanor and world-mindedness of President Xi Jinping as the leader of a major party and a major country, and has witnessed a remarkable, faithful, loved and respected China,” he said.
The APEC summit in Bangkok, Thailand: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, gesturing, was promoted to the Politburo as a reward for his loyalty to Xi Jinping. © AP
At first glance, Wang’s use of the term seems to be a continuation of the praise showered on Xi in the lead-up to the national congress. But Wang’s unique political language reflects Xi’s delicate position.
Wang’s use of Xi being the “leader of a major country” is a far cry from “the people’s leader,” which is reminiscent of founding father Mao Zedong. With “people’s leader” off limits, “leader of a major country” was the next-best thing Wang could come up with.
Big state media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, the People’s Daily and China Central Television have not given a reason why they have stopped using “people’s leader.” If they did, they would have made Xi lose face. It is a taboo subject.
That said, the reason for Xi’s political setback is clear. It has to do with the party’s revised constitution — of which the full text was released four days after the national congress ended.
The slogan “two establishments,” which shows ultimate loyalty to Xi, was not incorporated into the text, even as it had been chanted every day during the congress.
The absence of the key slogan from the amended party charter likely carries more weight than foreign media think.
A sign with the characters for “two establishments” is seen in Beijing on Oct. 13. The words were not incorporated into the party’s constitution that same month. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)
Despite his advanced age, Wang was promoted to the Politburo as a reward for his loyalty to Xi.
Keeping in step with Wang’s remarks, Xinhua, the People’s Daily and CCTV have begun to use the expression “leader of a major party and a major country.”
A typical example is the Qiushi Journal, the theoretical journal of the party’s Central Committee.
But the use of the expression “leader of a major party and a major country” is, in effect, a substitute expression to cover up Xi’s political setback.
The loyal Wang made another unusual move. In his summary of Xi’s diplomacy, Wang added the honorific title “professor” to Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan and praised her contributions to China’s “major-country diplomacy.”
Despite winning a cabinet full of loyalists, Xi is not satisfied with the outcome of the national congress. Had the expression “people’s leader” been engraved in the constitution, it would have shown that Xi has overtaken Deng Xiaoping, who promoted the policy of “reform and opening-up.”
In order to overcome domestic politics, Xi needed to rebuild China’s diplomacy amid international isolation.
One way Yi showed his loyalty to Xi was by referring to Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, with the honorific for “professor,” praising her contributions to China’s “major-country diplomacy.” © Reuters
On Nov. 14, Xi held his first in-person talks with U.S. President Joe Biden in Bali, Indonesia. Xi also held his first face-to-face talks with Japan’s Fumio Kishida in Bangkok on Nov. 17.
Xi shook hands with Kishida with an unmistakable smile. Lying behind the move was his wish to demonstrate that China has emerged from international isolation.
It remains to be seen whether Sino-Japanese relations will improve smoothly in the future.
China may take a wait-and-see attitude if it decides the Kishida administration is unstable and weak now that three cabinet ministers have resigned in a little more than a month.
If China decides that the Kishida administration is strong and will be last for the long term, it will become aggressive about diplomacy toward Japan regardless of whether it likes its neighbor.
Fumio Kishida and Xi Jinping greet each other in Bangkok while flashing unmistakable smiles. © Kyodo
Meanwhile, perceptions toward China have changed in the more than two and a half years Xi opted not to travel abroad for the coronavirus.
The number of countries that are truly enthusiastic about the China-led Belt and Road Initiative has declined. China did not even refer to the initiative in statements it issued about bilateral talks between Xi and foreign leaders held during his Southeast Asia tour.
The same is true of the Chinese diplomatic slogan “a community with a shared future for humanity.” China was able to declare that it shared the same fate with only a few countries in its bilateral diplomacy.
As for the “Global Security Initiative” Xi proposed in April, it was only taken up during Xi’s meeting with Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, in Bali.
China has a less powerful international voice than it possessed before the coronavirus pandemic.
Xi did not have bilateral meetings with some high-profile foreign leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Relations with India are especially chilly. In June 2020, China and India saw their first deadly border clash in 45 years. Although Xi and Modi both attended a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, in Uzbekistan in mid-September, they did not have a meeting.
Top diplomat Wang spoke of a “lovable” China when he explained Xi’s return to the international stage during his Southeast Asian tour.
The truth is that Xi himself had spoken of a change in direction toward a “lovable” China at a meeting of senior party officials in May 2021 as he was worried about the country having a bad reputation for its hard-line “wolf warrior” diplomacy.
Justin Trudeau exchanges words with Xi Jinping, who appears to be trying to intimidate Trudeau into not talking to the press, at the G-20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. © Reuters
But Xi himself gave the world a glimpse of wolf warrior diplomacy at the G-20 summit in Bali. He lectured Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau through a translator in front of the camera over alleged leaks of their informal meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.
“Everything we discussed has been leaked to the papers. That’s not appropriate. And we didn’t do it that way,” Xi told Trudeau on Nov. 16. “If there is sincerity, we can communicate well with mutual respect, otherwise the outcome will not be easy to tell.”
Trudeau responded by saying, “In Canada, we believe in free and open and frank dialogue, and that is what we will continue to have. We will continue to look to work constructively together, but there will be things we will disagree on.”
Xi cut Trudeau off and bluntly repeated, “Create the conditions first,” before smiling, shaking the Canadian prime minister’s hand and walking off. Xi’s remarks sound like intimidation.
The exchange of words between the leaders followed media reports that Trudeau expressed “serious concerns” about alleged Chinese espionage and interference in Canadian elections during his informal meeting with Xi on Nov. 15, their first talks in three years and five months.
There is no press freedom in China. Imposing the Chinese way, one that works only within the country, on other nations is wolf warrior diplomacy, pure and simple.
Although Xi put on a smile for now under the banner of a “lovable” China, traits of a wolf have not dissipated.
Canada is a Group of Seven member. Xi’s spontaneous, but highly publicized, vent of anger might reflect the discomfort “the leader” has felt for the past month.
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