China Briefing | Xi Jinping’s speech shows China’s Communist Party is still haunted by the fall of the Soviet Union

The release of a six-year-old speech by the Chinese president is significant for both its timing and its content

Xi’s warning of the long struggle ahead between socialism and capitalism is being circulated as the People’s Republic reaches its 70th anniversary – a mark the USSR never reached

Reading Time:4 minutes

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:30am, 6 Apr 2019Updated: 10:29am, 6 Apr 2019

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed admiration for President Xi Jinping’s autocratic style and for how he changed the Chinese constitution so he could rule as long he likes.

So he should also envy the fact that, while his White House leaks like a sieve, Xi’s Zhongnanhai headquarters are totally leakproof because of the Communist Party’s propensity for secretive politics.

Chinese leaders’ speeches to their inner circles, particularly those on sensitive issues, are always guarded with the utmost secrecy.

A Chinese flag at Xinhuamen Gate of the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in central Beijing. Photo: Reuters

While the official media may be allowed to paraphrase and report certain parts of those speeches for propaganda purposes, the original texts of the speeches may be kept secret for years before they are made public.

Still, when they are, they make interesting reading as they shed light on the inner thoughts of the leaders.

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