Xi Is the Cover Story of The Economist

choi

(1) Chinese politics | Beware the Cult of Xi. Xi Jinping is stronger than his predecessors. His power is damaging the country. The Economist, Apr 2, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/le ... country-beware-cult

Quote:

"But Mr Xi has also found that the pursuit of power is all-consuming [that is, pursuit of power consumes his time and attention]: it does not leave room for much else.

"He is using the party's own thuggish investigators to take on graft. But they have a greater interest in settling political scores than in ensuring laws are applied fairly. That gets in the way of good administration" of all levels of governments.

"Earlier in Mr Xi’s rule, observers had wondered whether, after establishing himself, he would turn to carrying out the reforms that he says he wants. But hopes are fading that a big reformist push will ever materialise. Mr Xi appears to have little time for the politically irksome business of making the party follow the law, closing down loss-making state-owned firms, or bringing about much-needed social changes, such as scrapping restrictions on access by rural migrants to urban public services. The task of preserving his power is a full-time job.

My comment:
(a) This is the cover story of the incoming issue.
(b) Though the cover story attracts a ton of comments, this is a topic well covered. Only the above quotations are worth knowing. So is the related article.
(c) A sentence in this cover story points to another, related article in the same issue:

"In effect, the party's hallowed notion of 'collective' leadership (see article) has been jettisoned. Mr Xi is, one analyst says, 'Chairman of Everything.' "  

See next posting. The (1) is in the Leader section of the magazine (though The Economist identifies itself as a newspaper), which heralds full-length articles in the rest of an issue. In this instance, (2) is very lengthy, but mostly familiar to you and me.

choi

(2) Xi Jinping's leadership | Chairman of Everything. In his exercise of power at home, Xi Jinping is often ruthless. But there are limits to his daring. The Economist, Apr 2, 2016.
http://www.economist.com/news/ch ... here-are-limits-his

Quote:

"SHORTLY before the annual session in March of China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress, two curious articles appeared in government-linked news media. The first, published in a newspaper run by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the Communist Party's anti-graft body, was called 'The fawning assent of a thousand people cannot match the honest advice of one.' It was written in an allegorical style traditionally used in China to criticise those in power, in this case in the form of an essay praising the seventh-century emperor, Taizong, for heeding a plain-talking courtier. * * * The historical essay was reposted on the disciplinary commission's website (where it remains)

"But he rules in a way unlike any leader since the Great Helmsman. After Mao's death, Deng tried to create a leadership of equals in order to push China away from Maoist caprices. Mr Xi is turning from that system back towards a more personal one. Indeed, he is more of a micromanager than Mao ever was. Mr Xi tries to maintain day-to-day control over every aspect of government. He might be compared to Philip II of Spain, on whose desk in a palace near Madrid all the problems of his 16th-century empire landed in the form of endless letters requiring response.

"Most observers have tended to assume that, with all his power, Mr Xi can do more or less as he likes. However [that is not necessarily -- here The Economist is vague in a two-sentence explanation]. And with the economy, he lacks a sense of direction. Policy is confused and there have been numerous mistakes. Mr Xi is not an all-conquering strongman. He gets his way only in some areas. Across a broad spectrum of society, his policies and iron-fisted authoritarianism generate much resentment.

"Both in his reforms of the PLA and in his fight against corruption, Mr Xi's actions aim first and foremost at tightening control: both the party's over the army and his own over the party. It is similar in other areas of politics. Mr Xi has presided over the biggest crackdown on dissent since the bloody suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989

"Mr Xi's lack of clear focus on the economy, and his unwillingness to let people more expert in such matters (namely, the prime minister, Mr Li) handle it, have caused a series of errors. * * * Markets are unpredictable and no Chinese leader (including Mr Xi) has any experience of the way they work in Western economies. But it is also likely that Mr Xi’s desire to hog power is partly to blame. This has confused officials. Once they would have sought guidance from the prime minister, who is supposed to be in day-to-day charge. But last year Mr Xi’s new task-force on reform was trying to exert control. The mishandling of the stockmarket and currency changes was the result, in part, of leadership confusion.

Note:
(a) Quotation 1 is untrue. See 千夫諾諾，不如一士諤諤. 台灣Wiki, undated
www.twwiki.com/wiki/千夫諾諾，不如一士諤諤
(numbers 2 to 4, where 3 is translation of (3)(b))
(i) 陕西省渭南市 韩城市
(ii) 田益 is the name of a person.

(b)
(i) Philip II of Spain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Spain
(1527 – 1598; among other titles: King of Spain (1556-1598) and King of England and Ireland (1554–1558); During Philip's reign there were separate state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1569, 1575, and 1596; in 1580 claimed the throne of Portugal, whose king had no heir [the union ended in 1640 when Portugal rebelled]; his fleet defeated Turks at Lepanto in 1571 but decimated in 1588 against England [under Elizabeth I]; Eighty Years' War or Dutch War of Independence (1568–1648)

Quote: "During his reign, Spain reached the height of its influence and power. This is sometimes called the Golden Age. The expression, 'the empire on which the sun never sets,' was coined during Philip's time to reflect the extent of his dominion.

(ii) "On 1543, Ruy López de Villalobos named the islands of Leyte and Samar Las Islas Filipinas after Philip II of Spain." (Just two islands, because much of the present-day the Philippines were to be conquered.)
(iii) His queen was Mary I of England
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_I_of_England
(1516 – 1558; Catholic: Her executions of Protestants led to the posthumous sobriquet "Bloody Mary"/ She was the only child of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon to survive to adulthood; In 1554, Mary married Philip [then heir apparent and future Philip II] of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556; Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed after her death in 1558 by her younger half-sister and successor Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn [wife No 2 of Henry VIII])
(iv) "Philip [II], a compulsive micro-manager, presided over specialized councils for state affairs, finance, war, and the Spanish Inquisition. A distrustful sovereign, Philip played royal bureaucrats against each other, leading to a system of checks and balances that would manage state affairs in a very inefficient manner, sometimes damaging state business (leading to the Perez affair)."
New World Encyclopedia

(c) A section heading: "And though Xi be but little, Xi is fierce/"

"And though she be but little, she is fierce."
Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 3, Scene 2
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/midsummer.3.2.html