Xi Jinping vs Deng Xiaoping

It has become very clear that the Deng Xiaoping era has ended and China is now at the beginning of the Xi Jinping era. There have only been three periods in modern Chinese era that this has happened. The first was the Sun Yat Sen period, the second was the Mao Zedong revolutionary period, the third was the Deng Xiaoping era when China started its march to prosperity. The next era is the present Xi Jinping reign.

It is important to remember that China has always been ruled for thousand of years by emperors. The Chinese people are used to having emperors at the top of society. In fact, this is one of the major rules of Confucianism which states: “Citizen, obey your emperor.” This is one of the biggest differences with Western society, which emphasized rugged individualism for people constantly seeking new frontiers to explore and conquer.

In order to understand the difference between the two – Deng and Xi – we have to look for clues in their speeches. However, in reading speeches of Communist Party leaders, it is important that one reads between the lines. This means to understand the real intent of the speaker.

Deng Xiaoping introduced the concept of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.” He introduced the market economy to the Chinese economy and achieved unprecedented economic success.

Deng allowed the idea of prosperity for some in the short term so as to achieve the idea of “prosperity for all in the long term.”

Deng’s economic policies resulted in unprecedented economic prosperity for the coastal regions and the interior regions lagged behind in development. His approach also caused phenomenal economic inequality. China became known as the largest consumer of luxury goods and its number of billionaires became among the highest in the world. In the meantime, millions of Chinese from the rural areas had to go to work in the coastal regions and provide the cheap manpower that fueled the Chinese industrial growth.

During the Deng era, China’s growth was heavily reliant on producing inexpensive, low quality commodities dependent on cheap labor. Xi Jinping says China will promote industrial innovation. Xi said: “Innovation is the primary force driving development and the strategic foundation in building a modern society.” Innovation, like artificial intelligence and digitalization, requires entrepreneurship. The problem is, entrepreneurship is a core value of capitalism. Already, China’s biggest entrepreneurs like Jack Ma have virtually disappeared from the public scene and are now toeing Communist Party lines. It is interesting to see how Xi Jinping will be able to marry innovation and entrepreneurship with Communist Party control in all aspects of “work” which is one of his 14 Thoughts. Xi has also stressed in his speeches that he will further open China’s door to foreign investors. So far, barriers to foreign investors have not shown any major reforms.

While China is trumpeting innovation, other countries like the United States, Japan and the European Union have also been forging ahead on their own strategies for industrial innovation.

Xi Jinping has also stressed the rule of law will be implemented in China. However, in other speeches he stressed that the Communist Party will be “a central leading group for full rule of law.” In China, the Communist Party serves as the main enforcer of the law and challenging Party authorities will never be tolerated. It is clear that Xi’s version of the rule of law is really rule of the Communist Party.

In foreign affairs, there are stark differences between Deng and Xi. Deng Xiaoping left a maxim that China’s foreign strategy is based on “ taoguang yanghui” which meant keep a low profile and bide your time. Xi Jinping seems convinced that China has bided enough time. Xi has stated that China will take an active role as “constructor of global peace, a contributor to the global governance and a protector of international order.” This is an apparent signal to the world that China will take more active participation with a louder voice in international order under Xi Jinping.

Mao Zedong, during his rule, contended that Deng Xiaoping was a “capitalist roader” and that the Soviet Union fell to capitalist roaders. This term applies to a person or group who demonstrate a marked tendency to bow to pressure from bourgeois forces and attempt to pull the Revolution in a capitalist direction and would eventually restore the political and economic rule of capitalism.

Mao Zedong launched an internal struggle with “capitalist roaders” when he launched the Cultural Revolution. Although he has not named Deng Xiaoping Thoughts as anti-revolutionary, it may also be part of the future of Xi Jinping Thoughts that the world will witness another struggle with capitalist roaders based on Xi’s public statements. One time he said: “Marxist thoughts and Mao Zedong Thoughts guided the Chinese people out of the darkness of that long night and established a New China.”

It also seemed Xi was thinking of another struggle with “capitalist roaders” when he said: “…the consolidation and development of the socialist system will require its own period… it will require the tireless struggle of generations, up to ten generations.“

There are already indicators of what Xi might be planning to do. He has called for narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor, which he calls Common Prosperity. He has tightened government controls on the business sector and private education and has even eliminated private tutoring.

Will Xi Jinping be able to eliminate “capitalist roaders” in China” – a task that Mao Zedong failed to accomplish; or, will we see a return of the Deng Xiaoping Theory?

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Sept. 11: Community Class for young writers, 2-3:30 pm with Ambeth Ocampo; Sept. 18, 2-3 pm. Young Writers’ Hangouts with Nikki Alfar; Sept. 25: Memoir writing for adults, 2-3:30 pm with Susan Lara.

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