Name? Xi Jinping
Westphalian identity? Chinese
Age? 68
Why is he in the news? At home, Xi is set to be added to the Chinese Communist Party’s official firmament of era-defining leaders; elevating him to the likes of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Abroad, he is making waves at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) by urging neighbouring countries to “resist forming small circles on geopolitical grounds;” aka the USA.
Why do we care? As it seems right now, Xi will be elected to an unprecedented third term as party leader next year. This carries over into APEC by ensuring that he is here to stay and therefore, so are his politics. Thus, when he states that “the Asia-Pacific region should not relapse into the confrontation and division of the Cold War era,” regional leaders listen.
Why should you care? If tensions between the two of the largest economies in the world were to ever spill into further conflict, every country in the world would be impacted. Xi and Biden are set to meet before the end of the year to hopefully talk all this out so right now, you should only care 3/10 about the potential altering of the status quo.
Who else cares? Tsai Ing-wen, President of Taiwan. Although much of Xi’s bolstering at home and pressuring abroad revolves around Taiwan, Tsai has seemingly gained more allies than lost. Two weeks ago, Tsai sent her foreign minister to charm Europe, an effort that apparently went well with the European Parliament sending its first-ever formal delegation to Taiwan.
Any further comments? China and the US have committed to “enhance ambition” on climate change in a joint agreement at COP26 despite Xi’s brazen statements against US actions in the Asia-Pacific region. Although the leaders face rising tensions over trade, human rights, Taiwan and Hongkong, and other issues, the two are able to speak and cooperate as allies in order to combat climate change.
