The Insecurity Underpinning Xi Jinping’s Repression

China is the world’s second largest economy and poised to surpass the United States as the largest. Economic progress brings change, and in an opinion essay for the Washington Post, law professor Jerome Cohen describes Xi Jinping as a leader who is insecure about domestic unrest whether over a financial downturn, corruption, the lack of good jobs and opportunity, or pollution and environmental degradation. Xi also must worry about “the enduring obstacles to transforming the export-led economy into the consumer and services one required by China’s more advanced stage of development,” Cohen writes. Any changes can mean losses for powerful vested interests. The government increasingly reacts promptly against “the slightest amount of public disagreement, pluralism and autonomy.” Cohen concludes that Xi “is turning China into a state dominated by the internal security forces backed by the military, but this only further alienates intellectuals and professionals.” A military that turns on its own people could lash out at its leaders, too. – YaleGlobal