Whoa. This is an intense read. I have been the one thinking Xi was putting on the Mao suit for show. Your piece and that piece by Lingling Wei are disrupting. Good stuff - thanks.
It's really hard to know for sure, but it certainly seems to me that he sees something rotten and dangerous behind the power of private capital, the big tech platform companies, and the seductive power of things like internet gaming.
Isn't it likelier that Xi is following the Putin model and taking potential rivals out for his own political / financial benefit, instead of actually "making capital serve the people"?
My sense is that he's largely completed the rival-elimination phase through the anti-corruption drive that was a big focus early in his leadership. I'm not certain, but there seems to be something sincere behind the campaigns he's launched over the past two years. It may not actually be about "common prosperity"; it could more be an effort to steer Chinese society clear of "corrupting influences" which might threaten the Party's hold on things. But I don't think it's just an internal power play.
That's eminently reasonable and may well be true. I'm hardly a China expert. But I will say that rare is the totalitarian who decided "I have done enough to eliminate my rivals and now I'm satisfied with my consolidated power." That's not to discount the possibility of multiple incentives though.
Whoa. This is an intense read. I have been the one thinking Xi was putting on the Mao suit for show. Your piece and that piece by Lingling Wei are disrupting. Good stuff - thanks.
It's really hard to know for sure, but it certainly seems to me that he sees something rotten and dangerous behind the power of private capital, the big tech platform companies, and the seductive power of things like internet gaming.
Isn't it likelier that Xi is following the Putin model and taking potential rivals out for his own political / financial benefit, instead of actually "making capital serve the people"?
My sense is that he's largely completed the rival-elimination phase through the anti-corruption drive that was a big focus early in his leadership. I'm not certain, but there seems to be something sincere behind the campaigns he's launched over the past two years. It may not actually be about "common prosperity"; it could more be an effort to steer Chinese society clear of "corrupting influences" which might threaten the Party's hold on things. But I don't think it's just an internal power play.
That's eminently reasonable and may well be true. I'm hardly a China expert. But I will say that rare is the totalitarian who decided "I have done enough to eliminate my rivals and now I'm satisfied with my consolidated power." That's not to discount the possibility of multiple incentives though.