About the lecture
Xi Jinping has now been in power over 10 years. The nature of his political ambitions and the impact they have had on China are now relatively well known. But since his reappointment for a third term as Party Secretary last October, challenges have mounted up.
The zero COVID policies were scrapped after widespread protests last November. His newly appointed Foreign Minister and then Minister of Defence disappeared, with a wide ranging purge of other figures in the military. He did not attend the G20, and the response to the sudden death of this former Premier Li Keqiang was defensive.
Is the Xi leadership starting to show signs of fatigue, and what are the potential lines going into the future as economic and other issues need attention, from a leadership built do tightly around his persona and policies associated with him?
About Kerry Brown
Kerry Brown is Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College, London. From 2012 to 2015 he was Professor of Chinese Politics and Director of the China Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, Australia.
Prior to this he worked at Chatham House from 2006 to 2012, as Senior Fellow and then Head of the Asia Programme. From 1998 to 2005 he worked at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as First Secretary at the British Embassy in Beijing, and then as Head of the Indonesia, Philippine and East Timor Section.
He previously graduated from Cambridge University and has a PhD in Chinese politics and language from Leeds University. He is the author of 20 books on modern Chinese politics. His ‘The Great Reversal’, a comprehensive history of Britain’s relations with China, will come out with Yale University Press next year.