Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
Xi Jinping’s ‘authoritarian turn’ — prioritising stability at a time of global turbulence
Rather than condemning the CPC’s abandonment of two-term limits, we must understand why China’s rapid rise — and consequently the US’s renewed hostility — has meant the party has chosen to centralise power at this time, writes JENNY CLEGG
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves at an event to introduce new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 23, 2022.

THE 20th congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) has made headlines in the mainstream media, but hardly because China’s future is of great consequence for the future of the world — rather, all eyes have been on Xi Jinping’s continuing as general secretary into a third five-year term.  

What an opportunity, so the pundits think, to hype up the new cold war, spotlighting China’s “dictatorial” methods of leadership succession as against the West’s virtues of democratic choice.

Xi is being “anointed,” we are told, or “crowned,” as China’s leader.  

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
DEFEATING JAPAN IS A PRIORITY: Eighth Route Army fighting on Futuyu Great Wall in Laiyuan, Hebei, China, 1938 / Pic: Sha Fei/CC
History / 13 February 2026
13 February 2026

In Part 4 of her look at the Chinese revolution JENNY CLEGG addresses the relationship between the Peasant Movement and the National Movement

heavens
Book Review / 3 December 2025
3 December 2025

BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution

Monument to the heroes of the Long March
Features / 3 November 2025
3 November 2025

STEPHEN BELL reports from a delegation that traced the steps of China’s socialist revolution from its first modest meetings to the Red Army’s epic 9,000km battle to create the modern nation that today defies every capitalist assumption

all the delegates for the Fourth Wanshou Dialogue on Global Security, Jenny Clegg is front row second left
Features / 4 July 2025
4 July 2025

JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war