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In the name of the father: what really drives Xi Jinping

In the name of the father: what really drives Xi Jinping

To understand what motivates the Chinese leader, former Australian ambassador to China Geoff Raby argues you must look to his family’s past.

Geoff RabyColumnist

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The 20th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China will be seen as a watershed in the reform era. Xi Jinping is now unchallenged and unchallengeable. The pretence of collective leadership is gone.

Collective leadership was introduced by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s. Deng wanted to limit the exercise of power by the leader to avoid the excesses of the Mao era and have an institutionalised mechanism to transfer power peacefully between generations.

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Geoff Raby
Geoff RabyColumnistGeoff Raby was Australia’s ambassador to China, 2007-2011. His book Great Game On: the contest for Central Asia and Global Supremacy will be published in November by Melbourne University Press.

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Original URL: https://www.afr.com/world/asia/in-the-name-of-the-father-what-really-drives-xi-jinping-20221107-p5bw2n