![](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CB_Logo.jpg)
Willy’s Corner
![](/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Central-Committee-presser-July-19.png)
Xi Sets Out 2029 Vision At The Third Plenum
Executive Summary: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping has solidified his position as the driving force behind achieving a “high-quality socialist market economy” by 2029. The recent CCP Central Committee Plenum indicated that he would rule until at least 2032. The Third Plenary... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Image-circulating-online-of-Peng-Liyuan-in-military-uniform-resize-640x375.png)
Peng Liyuan Rises Up the Ranks: Implications for Xi’s Despotic Rule
Executive Summary: Recent behavior by General Secretary Xi Jinping suggests a contradiction in his approach to leadership. While he has sacked protégés, suggesting a reckoning with past personnel decisions, he continues to prioritize personal connections and loyalty over competence. This centralization of power is exemplified... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-640x444.jpg)
The National People’s Congress Exposes Xi Jinping’s Problems
Executive Summary: Li Qiang’s government work report offered no significant incentives to help the nation’s three sectors most in need of government support. Economic targets were practically identical to those for 2023 but will be harder to achieve. Xi amassed more power through sidelining Li... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/中共中央对外联络部-ILD-scaled-640x480.jpg)
Recent PRC Rhetoric Does Not Signify Substantive Diplomatic Shifts
Executive Summary: Liu Jianchao is expected to succeed Qin Gang as foreign minister, emphasizing a focus on maintaining positive relations and creating a market-oriented business environment. But questions have been raised about Liu's qualifications, as he lacks experience as an ambassador and is known for... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Beijing-Municipal-Commission-of-Planning-and-Resources-640x355.jpg)
Xi Demands Fealty Despite Domestic And Foreign Woes
The Politburo held a “democratic life meeting (民主生活会)” on December 21–22, 2023, in which President Xi Jinping gave an internal, unpublished speech. According to accounts provided to the author by three officials at the rank of department head or above, Xi admitted that he had... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/西南交通大学学生悼念乌鲁木齐火灾逝者_01-640x481.jpg)
Much Cause But Little Recourse For Popular Discontent
The last quarter of 2022 saw an outburst of Chinese people power. Citizens in as many as 28 cities, including Shanghai, Beijing, and Chongqing staged spontaneous protests on their campuses or out on the streets. The underlying cause was Beijing’s draconian lockdown measures, which led... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Xi-at-CFWC-640x483.jpg)
Issues of Centralization, From Financial Work To Personnel
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping called for tighter Party and state control of the financial sector in the quinquennial Central Financial Work Conference that ended in Beijing on October 31 (Xinhua, October 31). All seven Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC) members as well... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/willy-article-image-640x361.jpeg)
Xi’s Dilemma: The Risk of Waging War Against Taiwan
Chinese President Xi Jinping (习近平) faces a dilemma. Around a dozen of his protégés have been found to be so corrupt that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary and Commander-in-Chief is no longer sure of the efficacy of the PLA’s trump-card weapons (BBC Chinese,... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/PLARF-640x354.png)
Xi’s Personnel Mismanagement
Paramount leader Xi Jinping (习近平) has been widely blamed by foreign governments and media for failing to take effective measures to remedy an economy hurt by excessive leverage, weak exports, anemic consumer spending, and the massive withdrawal of investment by multinationals (Foreign Policy, September 6).... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Picture1-640x394.jpg)
Coalitions of the Week: BRICS, ASEAN, the G20
Supreme leader Xi Jinping’s failure to attend the G20 summit in New Delhi this weekend (September 9-10) — thus nullifying the possibility of a meeting with top Western leaders including American counterpart President Joe Biden — is symptomatic of the isolation that China is facing... MORE