Xi Jinping, a Chinese communist leader, spoke at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, China on July 1, 2021. Getty Images NewsBEIJING It has been 100 years since China's Communist Party was founded. According to the party, it was formed out of a secret meeting held on a boat. President Xi Jinping is now in a position to lead China to the top spot in the world. China must overcome the looming problems of the middle income trap, lack innovation, and rapidly aging population to achieve this level of growth. Analysts, who mostly look in from overseas, believe that this is the case. Xi's eyes are set on the next 100 years and the unfulfilled dream "great revitalizion of China" that he reiterated this week at the centenary celebrations of the party. Xi is also the general secretary of China's Communist Party's central commission and holds the highest political office. Lee Kuan Yew, the late founder of Singapore, stated that Xi has iron in his soul. This was just before Xi became president.The 68-year old is the son of a Communist leader and vice premier. He was then subject to 16 years of political persecution under Mao Zedong, the party's dominant founder. Xi spent seven years in rural China as a teenager, during the Cultural Revolution. Mao used this to regain power and exterminate his political rivals.Xi's political careerAccording to state media, Xi started his career as a village secretary and then went on to study at Tsinghua University’s chemical engineering school. He worked his way up through various government positions in the country, including Fujian province, Shanghai and Shanghai. Deng Xiaoping was the architect of China’s economic reforms. He led an economic restructuring that allowed citizens and foreign businesses to own the state. Many credit these changes with lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese from poverty and making China an economy that is second only to the U.S.These key factors, which were the driving force behind China's incredible growth, have either stopped or decreased in performance. Tony Saich, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School of GovernmentDmitri V. Trnin, director at the Carnegie Moscow Center, stated that when you think about the centenary celebrations of the party, it is not about the party but about the economic progress over the past 30 years. "Most people in this country believe that there will be continued progress and greater achievements over the next few years. He stated that history does not work in this way. There are also successes. There are also failures. Xi was a member China's top leadership and the president of the central school that trains Communist party leaders by 2007. In 2013, Xi was elected president and began a broad anti-corruption campaign. In consolidating his power in 2018, Xi eliminated term limits and increased the party's involvement in private business.China's economic growth has been slowing over the past few years, but it is still relatively high compared to other major countries. Tony Saich, a professor at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, said that the key factors that drove China's extraordinary growth have either stopped or decreased in performance. He cited China's growing population and inability to continue relying upon foreign direct investment. Xi's problem is "how to get financial resources to the parts of the economy which are more productive," Saich, author of "From Rebel to Ruler": One Hundred years of the Chinese Communist Party. China's private sector is responsible for the majority of its growth and employment. However, the financial system is dominated mainly by state-owned banks which prefer to lend to state owned enterprises. Although Beijing often mentions the financing issue in its policy statements, it is less clear in practice how important these moves are.As tensions rise with trade partners like the U.S. and China, Xi has reformulated calls for domestic consumption growth and technology development. Yuen Yuen-Ang, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan, stated that this kind of innovation will prove more difficult than the GDP goals of the past. Innovation is inherently unpredictable and cannot be planned at the top. These new drivers of growth are crucial for the long-term. Bonnie Glaser, the director of the Asia program of the German Marshall Fund of America, stated in an email that China's most difficult task is to avoid the "mid-income trap". If its governance system fails in this goal, it could lead to domestic instability. She was referring specifically to the theory that once a country grows rapidly because of a large number of cheap laborers, it could stagnate and lose its ability to pay workers higher wages and sustain greater growth.A strong authoritarian figure can pose a danger to the country. He could use power to bring down the country. Ann Lee Author of "What The U.S. Can Learn from China."Rana Mitter, a professor of history and politics of modern China at Oxford, stated in an email that Xi's association with individual policy raises the stakes of ensuring growth. On directives that range from "socialism with Chinese characteristics to "diplomacy", the Chinese leader has called "Xi Thought". Official documents often start with the following line: "Under strong leadership of Communist Party of China Central Committee, with Comrade Xi Jinping as its core."Future challengesNext year, the ruling party will host its 20th National Party Congress. This congress will give signals about whether Xi will continue to hold power beyond the terms of his predecessors. Ann Lee, a former Peking University professor and author of "What China can teach the U.S.," stated that there is always danger when an authoritarian figure is in power. She said that she doesn't believe he has used power to increase his wealth, but rather for nation-building. China's increasing economic power has created new challenges. The U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has criticized China for human rights violations in Xinjiang and Tibet. These are matters that Beijing considers part its internal affairs along with Taiwan. China's disparities between the central and local governments slow down policy implementation while others question the leadership's direction.
