China’s top leaders are known to vanish from time to time, some forever, most come back into the limelight. So also with President Xi Jinping (and his wife Peng Liyuan), who after two weeks of unexplained absence, reappeared at a dinner for the visiting president of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
But the focus of attention was neither Xi nor Lukashenko, it was the Chinese president’s daughter and only child Xi Mingze’s presence at the dinner. All of 32 and a Harvard graduate, Xi Mingzie has followed the tradition where the families of high ranking Chinese leaders keep a low profile and little is known about them.
So tongues began to wag after Xi Jinping was quoted by Belarus’ first deputy prime minister Nikolai Snopkov as saying:
“My friend, you and I share a special relationship, so today we will have a family dinner. For the first time in history, my daughter will dine with a foreign leader.”
Now nepotism or Red Dynasty Politics as it is known in China, is a dangerous phrase but has existed and continues to exist. The most high profile example was that of Jiang Qing, fourth wife of the founder of Communist China, Mao Zedong. He allower her considerable political play.
She is reported to have had a major role during the Cultural Revolution that saw thousands killed or banished to the countryside for political reasons. Jiang Qing presided over China’s culture and arts world, and was even promoted to the politburo.
The good times lasted until Mao’s death in 1976 when she was removed from the politburo, arrested, tried and sent to jail for various crimes. She died by suicide in 1991.
Xi Jinping’s wife is not known to wield any political power. But his rise may have been helped by his mother, who being the wife of a major revolutionary figure Xi Zhongxun, had written a letter to the top leaders of the communist party pleading that her son be promoted.
The million dollar question here is whether Xi is subtly promoting his daughter.
Jayadeva Ranade, President of the Centre for China Analysis and Strategy, believes it is highly unlikely that the 99 million members of the Chinese Communist Party’s, especially its elite, would allow Xi Mingze to succeed her father.
“The Communist Party unlike dynastic regimes such as North Korea, has no tradition of hereditary leadership,” he told StratNewsGlobal. “While such ties may offer quiet advantages, the party outwardly adheres to collective leadership and merit-based promotions. If Xi Jinping promotes his daughter without her working in lower-level jobs first, he would be breaking the same party rules that helped him rise to power.”
The rules that say leaders must earn their positions through years of experience, not family ties, notes Ranade. In China’s system, a person usually has to work in both central and provincial government roles before he is considered for any high ranking job.
Xi Jinping is already facing internal dissent, with reports of disquiet in the military and criticism from party elders. Promoting his daughter could trigger a backlash from sidelined factions and the military, damage the Communist Party’s image, and draw comparisons to hereditary rule.
While symbolic roles for Xi Mingze may be tolerated, openly grooming her for leadership could deepen unrest and unite rivals against him. Xi, who enjoys power perhaps equal to that of Chairman Mao, may have political ambitions for his daughter. But unprecedented power is no guarantee he can succeed.
His rise to the top has seen him topple rivals and backstab even old friends and colleagues. His enemies are probably all around him, waiting for him to make that one blunder which could bring him down. Xi will be doubly careful.
