Willy Lam

China’s recent stock market crisis has exposed the flaws in President Xi Jinping’s economic policies. Party-controlled media have praised government leaders, but analysts and experts view large-scale government interventions as a “step backward”. The crisis needs urgent political reform, which the party has rejected so far. What follows is an analysis by a great China expert, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

The Chinese economic strategy emphasizes the role of state-controlled companies. President Xi: "The Chinese Communist Party should control the economy if it wants to rule the country forever." Big profits for private companies close to the Party elite. The initiative strengthens control over interior regions and contains the centrifugal forces. Beijing can absorb the nation’s excess production. The theory of the "three non-changes". The marginalization of the Premier Li Keqiang who wanted to liberalize the market.

Some high ranking generals “have a right” to seats in the Politburo and other key committees. The "group of Princes" is the one closest to the president and influences decisions. Military personnel must give "unwavering support to the Party leadership in diplomatic relations." The rebirth of territorial claims against Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines and the vision "of controlling the area and space". The Army as defenders "of the quintessence of Chinese culture."

The pro-democracy Occupy Central movement frightened Beijing much more than the short-lived Jasmine Revolution. The government fears a "democratic infiltration" from the Special Administrative Region and will use every means at its disposal, including economics, to stop it. However, doing so it could destroy the country's most dynamic and innovative region. What follows is an analysis by an expert on China, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

Concentrating power in top leader of party, state and army has unleashed a flood of flattery and brought back the cult of personality that had been "abolished" after the death of the Great Helmsman. However, the new leader's style and way of exercising power fails to heed the fact that when one rises above all others, one feels free to make blunders. Here is an analysis by an expert on China, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

Before the June 4 massacre, Deng Xiaoping and his crew launched a series of political reforms designed to reshape the system of powers between the State and the Communist Party, reorganizing the army's role and opening the door to a gradual democratization of the country. The new president has decided to reverse course, supporting nationalism and repression in the name of security and economic stability. Here is an analysis by a great China expert, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

As he continues to evoke economic and political reforms, Xi heaps great praise on the Great Helmsman, hiding all his mistakes. At the same time, he accumulates post after post worthy of a quasi-dictatorship. The regime's pampered princelings are the most loyal "Maoists". For Mao's former secretary, if the party is taken away from them, they have no more legitimacy. However, if the party continues as it is, it will not be able to face the challenges of the 21st century.

The debate over the role of the private sector in market reform has highlighted a chasm between Prime Minister Li Keqiang and the president, who now chairs two committees (one too similar to the KGB), leaving little room for others. Now Xi has to decide whether he wants to become a reformer or another Pol Pot. Here is an analysis by a great China expert, courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

The return of Maoist ideology, the sessions of self-criticism, the exaltation of the central leaders are signs of a return to the past that will hit not only politics, but also the economy and development of the nation. An analysis of the great expert on China, published courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

A great analyst of contemporary China dismantles the proclamations in favor of a "true rule of law," pronounced by the new president. The cases of Bo and the former security czar Zhou Yongkang part of the ancient tradition of the Party, in which rising factions use high-sounding proclamations to get rid of competitors and opponents. Justice is and remains in the hands of Communist officials. Published courtesy of the Jamestown Foundation.

In a Party facing extinction because of corruption, instead of launching political reforms and fight corruption, Xi Jinping proposes a moralizing campaign, in the style of Mao Zedong. It allows him to eliminate his opponents and increase political and economic power of Party "princelings", their creating a "dictatorship of red families". The analysis of an expert.

The "dream" of reforms seems gone, and Xi is increasingly using Maoists tones: gagging the press, eliminating dissidents, rewriting the Party’s history to clear the slate of its errors, and God. Minimum changes made to economy to avoid damaging the interests of princes and senior cadres of the Party. Six months after the takeover of Xi, the analysis of an expert.