Jinping, 57, will lead China over a period during which the country is projected to go through a rapid transformation and reclaim its position on the global stage. There are fresh predictions that China will overtake the United States as the world´s largest economy somewhere between 2020 and 2030. Less predictable are issues concerning how China´s social-political evolution will unfold during the next decade when Jinping will be at the helm, and how he will handle them.
Though the 1982 Chinese constitution envisioned the country´s president as a figurehead with limited constitutional and administrative powers, the presidency has over the years evolved as the most powerful institution in China. Today, China’s president is not only the chairman of the Central Military Commission but also general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Since the president controls both the party and the military, the powers of his office remain effectively unchallenged. But the constitution bars a president from holding the job for more than two consecutive terms, and it is this constitutional provision that has guaranteed smooth transfers of power in communist China.
As Nepal´s next door-neighbor and great friend, China matters to this country and so does its leadership. But that´s not the only reason why the succession story in China should interest us. The strategic geo-political shift taking place in South and East Asia is changing the dynamics of the whole region. Along with China, this region is also home to another resurgent giant: India. With China and India rising and the current world superpower, United States, deeply interested and involved in power rebalancing in Asia, the geopolitical shift in the region in the years to come will be enormous. With India and China for next-door neighbors, whether we like it or not, we will be greatly impacted by geopolitical realignments in the region.
As we aspire to maintain close ties with both India and China and avoid any friction with either, the leaderships of these countries matter to us. That´s why who Jinping is and how he thinks, or more precisely, what he thinks about China’s neighbors, are of great concern to us.
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