Name? Xi Jinping
Westphalian identity? Chinese
Age? 66
Why is he in the news? This week, we’re focusing on two pivotal moments for Xi: First, the Chinese National People’s Congress approved the Hong Kong National Security Bill–paving the way for sweeping anti-sedition laws in Hong Kong. Second, last week the Chinese military saw some brief moments of conflict along the India-Chinese border near Tibet.
Why do we care? Well, we’ve cared about the situation in Hong Kong since it first impacted one of our own writers and her chance to go on exchange there (yes we’re still a bit bitter over it). But nowadays, we’re concerned with how far both sides of the protests might go in increasing violence and decreasing human rights…The situation in the Himalayas we care about because it is a direct face-off between two massive, geopolitically important countries; both of which are experiencing their own domestic troubles with the virus and territorial disputes.
Why should you care? Because what happens in Hong Kong could set a precedent to what happens anywhere else there have been or will be protests (Chile, Turkey, Iran, Catalonia, France, etc.). And because Tibet is a long-time contested, strategically important mountain region for both India and China (and the Tibetan people though no one seems to care about them).
Who else cares? No surprise here but the U.S. cares. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the State Department no longer considered Hong Kong to have significant autonomy under Chinese rule; a statement that will no doubt have severe implications for all sides (wonder how scared Taiwan is right now). Almost in an effort to distract from this announcement, Trump tweeted that the U.S. was ready and willing to mediate the China-India border disputes.
Any further comments? The outcome of these conflicts is of special importance to Xi as his image has already been defeated by the WHO inquiry into the coronavirus origins among a number of other issues. If Xi is able to ‘win’ at home by containing and controlling the protests in Hong Kong as well as peacefully overcoming the border dispute with India, he may very well be able to distract the international media as well as Chinese citizens from the political, social and economic mess that is the coronavirus.
