What Xi Jinping’s goals for China say about his focus on personal legacy, just like Mao and Deng

On November 15, 2012, when Xi Jinping ( 習近平 ) was elected as the general secretary of the Communist Party and chairman of its Central Military Commission, few anticipated what was coming.

Xi wasted no time in kicking off a major anti-corruption campaign, reshuffling the top leadership of China’s ever-growing and upgrading armed forces, and promoting trusted allies to key provincial ­governments and major ministries.

Accomplishing all of this was not easy, but the results have been satisfactory. The cleansing of factions in the party, including fallen Chongqing chief Bo Xilai’s ( 薄熙來 )followers and the well-entrenched Shanxi Gang led by Ling Jihua (令計劃), who wanted to be a kingmaker, has been a success. Thanks to the efforts of his loyal ally Wang Qishan, head of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, Xi has brought discipline back into the party, and ­created vacancies to promote trusted comrades to key positions.

Last October 27, Xi was anointed as the party’s “core leader” at the end of its Central Committee’s sixth plenum. This was a great political victory, signalling Xi was finally in control of things. Before Xi, the “core” status had only been given to the nation’s paramount founding fathers, like Mao Zedong (毛澤東), and Deng Xiaoping ( 鄧小平), and respected leader Jiang Zemin (江澤民).