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China Briefing | China sees a world in chaos as an opportunity in its struggle with the West
- Mao’s old mottos about mayhem still resonate with Chinese leaders, and with the coronavirus pandemic still raging Xi Jinping sees a situation to be fully exploited to China’s advantages
- A recent speech suggests China is preparing to double down in its confrontation with Washington, just as the US is starting to express doubts over its own strategy
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“There is great chaos under heaven, and [thus] the situation is excellent.” Mao Zedong once used those words to explain his decision to launch the Cultural Revolution to build a new order at home in the 1960s and 1970s. On another occasion, he said “great chaos will lead to great rule”.
Fast forward to today and while the circumstances may have changed greatly and the situation may have become more complicated, Mao’s old mottos still resonate with Chinese leaders who are battling the West over how to shape a new international order out of the pandemonium precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic, which still ravages much of the world, particularly India.
Moreover, Xi Jinping, the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao, sees no end in sight to the current mayhem, which presents an opportunity to be fully exploited to China’s advantage.
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“Lately, the world is best characterised by one word, ‘chaos’, and this trend looks set to continue,” Xi said in a major speech in January, the full text of which – including how he perceived the state of the world – was published only a week ago.
Lately, the world is best characterised by one word, ‘chaos’, and this trend looks set to continue
On handling the pandemic, Xi said it was easy to judge how the art of governance and institutional advantages of various countries had fared, obviously referring to China’s success in containing the outbreak as compared to many other countries that had struggled to do so.
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