Thoughts from the Chairman: Beleaguered CCP Shows Signs of Resilience
Freeman Report | Issue 2 | September 2012
FEATURED ESSAY: Beleaguered CCP Shows Signs of Resilience
By Christopher Johnson
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) looked poised to end the third quarter of 2012 in a funk. Instead of a seamless transition of power from President Hu Jintao’s fourth-generation leadership team to the fifth-generation cohort under putative successor Xi Jinping, the senior leadership seemed to be drifting, beset by scandal, rumors of intense political infighting, and the deafening silence over Xi’s mysterious disappearance from public view for nearly a fortnight. The economy has been struggling as a distracted leadership appears uncertain about how aggressively to act, or even what tools to use, to spur growth. China’s relationships with many of its neighbors are on edge over territorial disputes, and, despite helpful messages of reassurance during almost back-to-back visits this month by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Beijing seems more convinced than ever that the United States is bent on obstructing its rise. (Continued)
FEATURED MULTIMEDIA:
Video-"Beijing as an Emerging Power in the South China Sea"
Watch Freeman Chair Senior Fellow Bonnie Glaser testify on Beijing's Role in the South China Sea before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on September 12, 2012.
Video-U.S.-China Relations in the 18th Party Congress Event
Watch former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Amb. J Stapleton Roy, and Freeman Chair Christopher Johnson at the Freeman Chair event, "U.S.-China Relations in the 18th Party Congress: Uncertainty amidst Political Transition," held on September 26, 2012.