we know xi jinping is not a great reformer. he is not that much of a fan of open markets or dramatic reforms. what is his vision for the great victory of china look like? great point. the china dream has played a central role in how he has defined his first term. most of us thought economic reform was going to be at the center of that given his background and leader of the party and early statements, but we are seeing a different policy agenda is taking shape, one about the revitalization and national greatness and national strength. one way to think about it is that for the first three decades era, economics was at the center. we are seeing a shift from economic considerations on par with national security concerns. there are lots of questions of whether there will be appetite or inclination for change even if he does presumably have this consolidation of his power. what does the next five years look like? do you think he could go all the way through 22027? isthe operative assumption that no matter what happens at the end of h

xi as i interpret him is all about the party. only the party can save china, and only xi jinping can save the party. something like that. so what's going to happen at the 19th party congress? let me go out on a limb a little bit here. obviously, all the eyes are going to be on the standing committee of the bureau. my assumption is that we will continue to have a seven person bureau standing committee. even that is subject to change. i remember being in beijing in january of this year, and the rumor then you would go back to having one vice chairman. even then that struck me as one of the bargaining ploys. if you don't like my personnel arrangements then i won't have anybody. in any case there's been a lot of rumors about what is going to happen. i think the chances are it will remain at seven. my guess is that everybody will say that he was made to do that. it will probably be because of age and maybe xi jinping would like to run things himself. somebody mentioned his desire for control. my guess is the premier will stay on and c

age and here is xi jinping.ut to make his remorse. >> legs and gentlemen, comrades, friends, good morning. in the 19th congress of china was completed and this friends themany from the press and from far away. have donend that you lots of work to report to the , so you weren't really reports have attracted a lot of attention and i would like to say thank you. >> with many of you coming from afar. you up worked very hard and your media coverage has captured the attention of the world. i wanted to say a big thank you. >> the committee, congress, and 50 name parties and from the leaders and and the future expressed our heartfelt friendship. >> all 52 major political parties and 165 countries have spent 855 messages of congratulations. of these, 814 came from heads of state or government or the leaders of political parties or important organizations. on behalf of the cpc central committee, i wish to convey our appreciation to them all. the 19thow, first of congress, we elected the middle leadership -- we elected the

this gives xis' flexibility. now, if we do things according to past practice, they'd all be moving up the -- by age so there are number of people who are 67 years of age and, therefore, age eligible, but anybody want to take a bet on chau's being elevated? i would not count of that one. lon cannot move up because she is a girl and as alice would say you don't allow girls in the boys' clubhouse. yon is military you. 'll have some moving other people up from the standings committee. i think one interesting question is who will replace lee as executive premier. yon seems to be a popular choice, jung is another viable choice. these personnel choices will matter good deal. some believe that wah, the young secretary will make it. just doesn't seem likely to me because, one, it would be naming a successor, or at least everybody would jump to that conclusion, and, two, xi has gutted the communist youth league of the last favor greaser and seems unlikely he would promote a product of the communist youth league to the stan

to xi jinping. i may be wrong on that but that he would rather implement policies to other channels. that may be one of the changes that we'll see at the 19th party congress. >> i can say the sector unless never came up in any conversations i've ever had about the leadership until today so thank you. >> alan and then doug. >> thank you. i wonder if would be right or not to connect some thoughts here between the retirement and economic policy, for example, it's often said that the implementation of the campaign is really stifled economic initiative. and whether there is any view that biting regular order to take a phrase popular in the city, take effect and retire, will then allow the anticorruption campaign to assume a lower profile and, therefore, maybe give get somee impetus even if the local are not given the leeway to do much on their own. because it seems to me that unless the parties able to stimulate the economy better than it is doing, they are going to run into problems doing what you all s

xi jinping still talking three hours in. when you look at these pictures, the difference compared to five years back, it's hd now. it seems a bit more grand. i guess to heidi's point, you would looking behind the window, you could barely see anything, so i guess that is one of the challenges. >> hd, the clarity. presenting itself to the world. it used to be closed, internal, secretive, and now, it is broad. and despite all the criticism of , we are seeing the pageantry, the pomp and hugemstance of this political face forward of china to the world. >> at this time tomorrow, we will also be getting gdp numbers, so that will really put into context where china is and where it wants to take the country forward. this is bloomberg. ♪ says it hasresident shift the focus if he opens the communist party's national congress. trump's gift. the president said his tax that will fit -- save americans tax plans for thousand dollars a year and calls for delivering it by the holidays. president trump: let's give our country the best christma

xi is sometimes known as big daddy xi. xi da da.hink trump would love to be seen in a similar way. i think the chinese will go all out to make the visit as friendly and successful as possible. they will have big welcoming ceremonies. the chinese can put on a spectacular show. i think there will be efforts to make the relationship appear personal and warm and involve the families in some way. i think the issue we should focus on -- because they will be a lot of confetti tossed in the air -- is whether the chinese are actually willing to deliver more on north korea and trade in particular. president trump has made a big bet that china will help you koreaally squeezing north will help them get more from , north korea in terms of actual negotiation about their weapons their weapons -- than any president has gotten before. he also hopes that the very unbalanced trade relationship u.s. has had with china for decades will change, that chinese will recognize a more balanced playing field in trade. that's the way both sides are setting the t

robin, your thoughts on the last 45 minutes from president xi.re were 12 sections, so prepare to be listening for a long time still to come. he essentially started the speech with a list of achievements of his first five years in power, lifting 60 million people out of poverty, reforming the military in this country, and he went on. we are having a history lesson at the moment. he has talked about the century of humiliation for china. a nation that was bullied, he said. then he thought about how democracy was brought to this country in 1949. there have been a nod to some problems going forward, in particular wealth inequality is of huge concern. china continues to grow at a rapid pace. that growth is slowing. he knows if the benefits of the change can't be shared among eve ryo ne the change can't be shared among everyone in this country then that is going to be a huge problem. that includes the millions still living in rural parts of china and the significant middle—class, who will be half billion strong zone. he is on to section two of what coul

the fact that president xi.c trouble plays into the hands of the chinese foreign policy makers because for a long time they wanted to challenge the prestige of the united states, especially in asia. now that president trump has to deal with domestic chaos, china is in a good position to expand its influence in the region and perhaps beyond. stay with us on outside source — still to come. losing ground in syria and iraq. a report has said that 5000 supporters of so—called islamic state have returned to their home countries. the labour party says it‘s investigating the conduct of one of its mps, after fresh allegations that he‘s made abusive comments. jared o‘mara had already resigned from the parliamentary women and equalities committee, for a series of homophobic and sexist remarks made more than a decade ago. but now one of his constituents is claiming he used sexist language against her seven months ago. mr o‘mara denies the accusation. up until now, the labour party has really seemed to accept jared o‘mara‘s

i think xi has done that.f mao where the communist founding father who made the country independent and unified and if another made china rich he would be the one who makes , china strong. china its proper glory, the glory that has been denied china in his opinion for centuries, but that is rightfully belongs to the country. it is very evident from xi jinping that he wants to lead china into the center of the world. he wants the world to see the country, not as just another superpower, but as the superpower. it is also quite obvious he does not intend to lead the country on the path of liberal democracy. he wants to show the model of ofe that he has exemplified disciplined authoritarian state, possible anda very for otherl of rule countries around the world. charlie: many expected him to be a political reformer, that is not going to happen. richard: no, when you and i mention the word reform we think , of liberalization which leads to more like the west and america. more market reform. when the chinese talk ab

he had already named xi jinping and we already heard about him people were look at that and seeing xi jinping was going to be the next in line. this time xi jinping has not chosen anybody, that's the speculation that he won't include anybody in their 50s again, this could be -- the speculation is that he could be doing this so he's not perceived as a lame duck president, that he doesn't want to have a name out there that everyone will be focused on >> great stuff we look forward to that unveiling on stage tomorrow morning your time to see who is on that standing committee alongside the increasingly powerful president xi jinping. >>> in washington, president trump will make his first trip to capitol hill to meet with lawmakers. past gatherings all took place at the white house tracie potts joins us with a look at what we should expect. good morning >> expect the president to join senate republicans for their policy luncheon today and to talk about tax reform. it's a big priority on both sides. there's a lot we don't know. one idea being floated around is severely dropping the amount of

xi jinping is to control things. whether you want to talk about economic small groups or information or history for south china sea islands or whatever. the guy likes to be in control. so, we are talking about possibly as a result of the 19 party congress, his being even more in control. and i think there probably are some foreign policy implications that might spring from that. and i would like any of you are all of you to speculate briefly on that. tim included the notion that he wants to control the diaspora as well. but that is a subject for another -- [laughter] >> the part of that was interesting. i do not think it stops with xi jinping however. we have seen with the russian involvement in european and american politics that we are still learning the dimensions of that.but i think i spent some time in europe the summer teaching and i was given insights into the amount of effort that china has been making to influence elections in the european countries. actually there investing and the politicians and their cam

the real question is does xi jinping himself want to help the united states on the issue. >> as xi consolidates as he did at the party congress, are we moving towards a cult of personality like mao. >> i don't think so. there's been a lot of debate about this, whether xi jinping is a power-mad, megalomaniac, like mao zedong. i think he's a pragmatist and has demonstrated that several times. he doesn't look like someone who wants to cling on to power forever and he doesn't act in a whimsical way. xi jinping has a plan, and we have been watching him steadily execute it over the last five years and he will continue to do it going forward. >> christopher johnson, thank you for joining us to help us understand all of this. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: now, a big win overnight for u.s. banks and credit card companies. it goes back to a long-brewing battle over whether consumers have the right to bring class- action lawsuits against those companies. william brangham has the details. >> brangham: until recently, consumers who signed up for checking accounts or credit cards gave up their right to be par

donald trump says he has a great relationship with xi jinping and xi jinping says he has a great relationshipith donald trump. the chinese are good at ceremony and flattery. [laughter] richard: i think they will treat donald trump sumptuously. i doubt that donald trump will get much out of it. jiayang fan: i very much agree on that. i think that the greatest fear of xi jinping before donald trump took the reins was not knowing the kind of person donald trump was. i think the last few months in american politics has shown xi jinping that he has nothing to fear with a president like donald trump. ♪ ♪ friedman is here, a columnist for the new york times and the recipient of the -- he is best known for attacking big ideas and competent issues and is a self-confessed explanatory journalism. his goal is to translate from english to english. his latest new york times bestseller is just out in paperback, called "thank you for being late -- an optimist guide to thriving in the age of acceleration." i am pleased to have tom friedman back on this program. can i start with the column you wrote today in t

province.rom a and another, an ally to theident xi and led up propaganda arm when president xi ran thatrovince. trustthe economic brain is staying on in the central committee, some say or suggest the economic reform plan will continue in line with what we have seen the last five years. we also saw a stepping down of a man who led this aggressive, anticorruption campaign by president xi. how much of an influence is xi likely to have, going forward? growth at all costs, has that shifted after this meeting? tom: his influence is expected to last for decades. he has been elevated to this level, along with mao zedong. according to the economic framework he laid out, you're right to point to the shift. it has been described by some as a watershed moment where he has elevated the need to tackle inequality on the same level as the need to generate economic growth. the priority has been growth at all costs. now, he has squarely put the focus on tackling inequality. in that sense, it is a shift. inequality and pollution issues. we are that impact the state sectors and corporate said -- sector. we

xi jinping likes to control things. whether you want to talk about economic small groups or information or history or south china sea islands or whatever, the guy likes to be in control. so we're talking about possibly as a result of the 19th party congress his being even more in control. i think there probably are some foreign policy implications that might spring from that. i would like any of you or all of you to speculate briefly on that. to include the notion he wants to control the diaspora as well. >> that's a -- the last part of that, the diaspora thing is interesting. i don't think it stops and starts with xi jinping however. we saw with the russian affair and involvement in european and american politics, we're still learning the dimensions of that. i spent some time in europe this summer teaching. and was given insights into the amount of effort that china has been making to influence elections in the european countries. they're intresivesting in these things. we have a ckerfuffle right now n new zealand. so

xi jinping was widely expected to consolidate power. really anything new comedy edition of his name to the constitution. —— anything new, the addition of his name. what we have learned is that the focus of the communist party has shifted away from this tunnel vision approach towards growth targeting and the scope has broadened quite significantly suit deleveraging, but also to the environment. there is a recognition that the chinese communist party, to stay in power, and for xi communist party, to stay in power, and forxijinping to communist party, to stay in power, and for xijinping to move communist party, to stay in power, and for xi jinping to move forward with his second term, he cannotjust be thinking about targeting growth and squeezing a few more years of fast growth out of there can be. actually, that fast gdp growth, in the course of the past two decades, has actually caused a huge amount of degradation in the environment, it has been very investment led growth which has been powered by an excess of savings within china, and h

we are waiting for president xi. china in the region, japan, south korea, does that enter into any of xi jinping's standing committee thinking? is that a byproduct of everything else they do? you mentioned president trump going to asia. it is obviously a big deal to him. depending on who you talk to, a lot of asians hope the u.s. will maintain a strong stance in the region. whereas china is often nervous about that. how will that play out for these two leaders? bill: that is one of the challenges. in addition to talking about kim jong-un, they will be talking about the south china sea, and trade. biggest allies in the region are japan and south korea. south korea is under threat. japan is coming up to an election which they think will be difficult for abe. but now it looks like he will win. when you take a look at where it is, it is one of the most contentious areas in the world today. our relationships with japan and south korea are key, without a doubt. as you look at other issues around the world -- we're waiting

things will get tougher, as xi said, but what xi has done is reform the state owned enterprises, andhis having communist party members on the board of private enterprise. china has one of the most active entrepreneurial spirits of any market you see. and in some ways, china's technology and, you know, development and everything in china is really leading in a lot of activities, a lot of enterprises. it is the spirit. so appropriating these americanisms, the china dream, the new silk road, the asia development company, it is a mirror image of america, isn't it? the question is what can america get away with, the superpower that china is becoming, they can get away with all sorts of things just because they are big, and they can also create their own world. america made its own world, in asia in particular, and china is doing that now. what is going to happen economically in the next decade? one of the big problem is that they can't do anything about is demographics, the workforce is going to contract rapidly from about 2020. debt is a problem. sooner or later, they will have a financi

xi intends to make it strong.a long way from the caves where he spent his teenage years as a farmer. xijinping had been born into the communist elite, but sent to the countryside when mao purged his father. that was then, this is now. china on the up and xi promising quality of life at home and superpower status abroad. translation: we want our lives to get better and we want a strong country. translation: xi jinping is very tough. compared to other leaders, he's great. xi believes in control. the party's control of the public. his own control of the party. and a campaign of fear to silence rivals. xijinping has acquired more authority and more power and the chinese communist party has taken a step away from collective leadership and towards a one—man rule by a very charismatic and powerful leader. for centuries, china's emperors ruled from behind the walls of the forbidden city. by enshrining his vision, xi hopes to make himself invulnerable. the chinese once called chairman mao "the great helmsman" and foreigner

president xi jinping is still going.d as the weak world economy. but he said china's economy is working at high speed, ranking high in the world. and he says contributing 30% to the world economy. so, now, iamjoined by associate professor of political science at the university of albany in the us. she is an expert on chinese politics. thank you for joining us on bbc news. have you been listening in to president xi jinping and what do you make of the first minutes? yes, i have been listening since the very beginning. so fari listening since the very beginning. so far i don't think there are any surprises. we have been hearing a lot of familiar phrases, catchphrases. including the chinese stream, national rejuvenation, the four comprehensives, one belt, one road, i think he's tried to say he has achieved a lot in the last five yea rs. has achieved a lot in the last five years. and as you just said, there is this whole list of things that he has done. and so far i think it is just a reiteration of what we've heard in the la

if a lot for xi jinping to cover.n the last few minutes, we have had a nod to the one thing that domestically i think is most closely associated with this man, with its leader, and thatis with this man, with its leader, and that is his anticorruption efforts, the efforts to rid the communist party of the virus, i think he has referred to it in this speech of corruption, which made it an organisation when he came to power towards the end of 2012 that was increasingly distrusted and disliked by many people in this country and perhaps was seen as losing its legitimacy. he has sought to change that. it has also been political control and oppression for him because many of those people who have been targeted right up until just a few months before this congress have been rivals, or those in the future who may be rivals. so clearly, i think that reference to ridding the party of any virus that may threaten its health, we have heard him use those words in the past few minutes, is a reference to the anticorru ption past few m

xi intends to make it strong.it is all a long way from where he spent his teenage years as a farmer. xi jinping had been born into the communist elite, but sent to the countryside when mao purged his father. that was then, this is now. china on the up, and xi promising quality of life at home and superpower status abroad. >> we want our lives to get better, and we want a strong country. >> xi jinping is very tough. compared to other leaders, he is great. carrie: xi believes in control. the party's control of the public. his own control of the party. and a campaign of fear to silence rivals. >> xi jinping has acquired more authority and power, and the chinese communist party has taken a step away from collective leadership and towards a one-man rule by a very charismatic and powerful leader. carrie: for centuries, china's emperors ruled from behind the walls of the forbidden city. by enshrining his vision, xi hopes to make himself invulnerable. chinese once called chairman mao the great helmsman, and foreigners cal

hizon in singapore, the headlines: china's president says it's the start of a new era, but what does xi jinping's vision mean for the rest of the world? president trump denies a congresswoman‘s claims that he was insensitive during a phone call to the widow of a soldier killed in action. didn't say what that congresswoman said, didn't say it at all. she knows it, and she now is not saying it. i did not say what she said. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: stranded and at risk of cholera, we have a special report on the rohingya muslims fleeing violence in myanmar. so many young children we are seeing here today. this has to be one of the biggest single—day influxes of refugees, from across the borderjust over there, in the whole of this crisis. he's the author who created the world of his dark materials, philip pullman tells us why he's bringing the cult series back to life. live from our studios in singapore and london. this is bbc world news. it's newsday. it's 8am in singapore, 1am in london, and 8am in the morning in beijing, where delegates are gathering for the se

president xi put alongside chairman mao.ussie dollar is tumbling after third-quarter inflation fell short of estimates due to lower costs for fuel and vegetables. headline cpi rose 0.6 of 1% against estimates of 0.8%. the government signaled a willingness to tolerate more inflation, fearing more cuts could ignite prices. comes after a western australia bank asked for a positive to put more time -- for a pause for talks with the regulator. the banks are accused of rigging the swap rate. opec is said to be working on an exit strategy from its output curves. people familiar with the discussion say the move is designed to improve the impact of the output limits next year. the cartel is likely to endorse the strategy next month, even as it negotiates the extension of production cuts until the end of 2018. day,l news 24 hours a powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i am paul allen. this is bloomberg. haidi: bitcoin has passed another milestone. it has now secured a market value of $100 billion,

>> well, trump says he has a great relationship with xi, apparently xi says he has a great relationship with trump. the chinese are good at ceremony, they're good at flattery. and i think they will treat trump sumpiously. but i doubt trump will get much out of it. >> yes, and i am very much agree on that front. and i think xi's greatest fear before trump took the rains was not knowing the kind of person trump was. and i think the last, the last few months in american politics has amply shown gli that he really has nothing to fear with a president like trump. >> thank you for coming. >> thank you so much. >> thank you both. >> thank you. we'll be right back, tom friedman is here. stay with us. tom friedman is here he is a columnist for "the new york times" and recipient of the pulitzer prize. he's best known for tackling big ideas and complicated issues. he is a self-confessed explanatory journalist. his goal is to translate from english to english. his latest new york times best sell certificate just out in paperback. it is called thank you for being late, and optimist guide to thriving

xi jinping has been very clear in all he wants to achieve for china. he wants to reassert party leadership on the one hand, and open up china on the other. this shows that in the lineup. three of the members are very close allies to him, and there are reformists, especially a liberal reformist advocating for more democracy inside the party. it could be that xi jinping has consolidated his power and will push his agenda forward for more reform. our correspondent reporting for us from beijing. news, the e.u. has announced it is postponing a vote on extending the license for the controversial herbicide glyphosate. representatives from the 28 you member states met in brussels today. on tuesday, the commission proposed renewing the license for a shorter than usual five to seven years, with fears it causes cancer. i spoke to pierre in brussels. pierre: there was a first round of votes between experts of the 28 member states this morning who were convened at 10:00 local time. this first-round vote showed there was no sufficient maturity in one direction or th

it's part of what's animating xi's philosophy. >> talk about xi as a person, he's very different. opportunity to meet him once. the chinese leaders kind of seem like very colorless arrest tryst c aristocr aristocrats, he seems more ambitious than other politicians. do you think he will go for that third term, which would break what would become a precedence, i think is almost legally enshrined, two terms and you're out. >> i think your instinct is absolutely right, that confidence that he asserts is very, very evident, especially compared to his predecessors, and i think that comes from his status as a princeling. he is the son of a very prominent communist party member who served in the government, you know, was banished at one time and then came back. so i think there's that natural authority that his predecessors, his immediate predecessors did not have. and i think that makes him a little bit more relaxed when it comes to dealing with his peers and counterparts. and also, he has seen the benefits of having great charisma, i think he is aopportunity fra opportuni astute at lear

i many will be the people of xi jinping?e crucial. many will be the people of xi jinping? that will be crucial. this new ideology, called xi jinping thought, what does this mean for the people in china and the economy? well, the economy and trying to ensure that it continues to grow, even though the rate of growth is slowing, is absolutely crucial not just to the future of china, but also to the communist party's continued dominance. xi jinping's thoughts, it is not simple to quantify. we are not seeing radical reforms of the economy that were pioneered back in the late 1970s. it will emerge in the weeks and months ahead. there will be theoretical discussion about what exactly xi jinping version of marxism, leninism, what those characteristics will be. but we are seeing more characteristically is a reminder of how much xijinping has come characteristically is a reminder of how much xi jinping has come to embed his authority on this party, this country, his hold on power. seeing his name associated with this new era, it may s

matter reelection and although china has had in recent years a collective leadership system president xi is feared because of his anti corruption campaign and as amassed more personal power than any of his recent predecessors this is a particularly good time to assess all of this china's ruling party has a major meeting every five years and it's happening right now before we start our discussion of a long term china watcher out as there is beijing correspondent adrian brown reports from the communist party congress. president xi jinping can control a lot of things but he can't influence the weather to the superstitious and many people here are the damp grey start to this congress was perhaps a warning sign. in spite of the weather this was a day of choreographed unity after what has been a tumultuous few years for the party. but there was a stirring welcome for the president. this is as close as the foreign media get to the opaque workings of china's communist party. she reported on his past five years in office saying the party had achieved miracles he also warned serious challenges ahe

and the focus of it all -- one man, president xi jinping.praised china's achievements during his stewardship within the country must not stand still. >> china has made major breakthroughs in its reform campaign. we are now in high gear in full steam with deepening, comprehensive reforms and resolutely removing all problems. these reforms have been carried out in a fundamental and in-depth manner. reporter: his speech may have been light on details, but xi promise to continue economic reforms, fight corruption, and opened the door to more foreign investment as part of a new era. xi also said the tone for china's role on the international stage in the coming years. one focusing on economic development and environmental protection. but xi also cautioned world powers against taking his words as a sign of weakness. >> china pursues an independent foreign policy of peace and respect the rights of other countries to choose their own development road. china will never suit development at the expense of other's interest and will never give up his leg

xi jinping spells out his country's ambitious global agenda. the head of amazon studios resigns, after allegations he sexually harassed a television producer. lincoln in the bardo. and the american author george saunders wins the man booker prize for his debut novel. it has become the world's factory production line, but now the chinese communist party is trying to reshape the country into an economy fit for entrepreneurs. can this man be simultaneously president and an international business owner? that question will be posed in a federal court today. in a speech formally opening the congress of the communist party of china, the party's leader, xijinping, has said his country has made great accomplishments in the last five years, despite challenges from a very weak global economy. president xi is still speaking, in a speech which has already lasted three hours. they are listening with great intent, and xi jinping they are listening with great intent, and xijinping has been speaking of a successful reorganisation of the chinese military to come

xi seems more like a politician. he quotes poetry, he makes analogies, he's always talking about the common chinese person and he seems ambitious in the way that a politician is. first, is that true, and do you think he'll, therefore, go for that third term that everyone wonders about, which would break with what has become a president is almost legally enshrined two terms and you're out? >> well, i'll answer the first question first. i think your instinct is absolutely right. that confidence that he asserts is very, very evident, especially compared to his predecessors. i think that comes from his status as a princeling. he is the son of a very prominent communist party member who served in the government. you know, was banished at one time and then came back. so i think there's that natural authority that his predecessors, his immediate predecessors did not have. and i think that makes him a little bit more relaxed when it comes to dealing with his peers and counterparts. and also he has seen the benefits of having

xi intends to make it strong. all a long way from the caves where he spent his teenage years as a farmer. xijinping had been born into the communist elite, but sent to the countryside when mao purged his father. that was then, this is now. china on the up and xi promising quality of life at home and superpower status abroad. translation: we want our lives to get better and we want a strong country. translation: xi jinping is very tough. compared to other leaders, he's great. xi believes in control — the party's control of the public, his own control of the party and a campaign of fear to silence rivals. xijinping has acquired more authority and more power and the chinese communist party has taken a step away from collective leadership and towards a one—man rule by a very charismatic and powerful leader. for centuries, china's emperors ruled from behind the walls of the forbidden city. by enshrining his vision, xi hopes to make himself invulnerable. the chinese once called chairman mao "the great helmsman" and fore

who is the arbiter of xi jingping's thought other than the man himself?f you oppose xi jingping, you oppose him, the party and the country, not a comfortable position to be in. he is virtually the constitution personified, and it is hard to see how anyone will ever challenge him on present prospectus. indeed, but the degree of rupture, this is a huge rupture from deng xiaoping. people describe the killer of chairman mao, then there was deng xiaoping who saved the economy and now xi jingping is saving the party. the real history of that is that deng xiaoping was regarded by chairman mao as a monstrous enemy who he repeatedly imprisoned and tried to get rid of, accusing him of trying to take the catalyst road and indeed he did as soon as chairman mao dive. his legacy was to try and ensure china never again suffered from a strongman as he and the rest of the country suffered —— the capitalist road. he set up a more consensual system, retirement ages and ideas of terms in the party, ten years and you retired at 69, created by deng xiaoping to avoid this situa