Xi Jinping

• Born: June 15, 1953
• Place of Birth: Beijing, China, or Fuping County, Shaanxi Province, China

Xi Jinping, part of the fifth generation of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, became general secretary of the party in 2012 and president of China in 2013, making him the most powerful person in the country and one of the most influential in the world. The son of Xi Zhongxun, a founding member of the CCP who later fell out of favor, Xi Jinping skillfully avoided questions about his family's political past while climbing the ranks of the Communist Party. Under his leadership, China continued its ascent as an economic, political, and military superpower, though he also drew criticism for authoritarian tendencies and support for China's aggressive posturing toward Taiwan.

Early Life & Communist Party Roots

Xi Jinping was born in China in June 1953. Some sources suggest he was born in the province of Shaanxi, in the county of Fuping, while others claim he was born in the city of Beijing. Coming from a family of Han ethnicity, he was the third child of Xi Zhongxun, a founder of the communist guerilla movement in northern China, and Qi Xin. Xi Zhongxun had fallen out of favor with the Communist party and was accused of disloyalty to Chairman Mao Zedong in 1962. The senior Xi later became a supporter of market reforms and publicly condemned the events at Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was rarely seen after that and was reportedly jailed several times.

During the Cultural Revolution in 1969, the teenage Xi Jinping was sent to work in Shaanxi Province, where he apparently gained a reputation for having impressive physical endurance. In 1971 he joined the Communist Youth League of China, and three years later, he became a member of the CCP (also known as the Chinese Communist Party, or CPC).

Rising Through the Ranks

Xi entered the chemical engineering department of Beijing's Tsinghua University in 1975. After graduating in 1979 (according to official Chinese government biographies, he graduated with a degree in Marxist theory and ideological education), he spent three years working in the general office of the central military commission.

The next few decades were spent working his way up the ladder of the Communist Party. In 1982, he was appointed deputy secretary of a county in the remote Hebei province, a cultural and economic backwater. However, when a popular television drama was filmed there, Xi seized upon the opportunity to turn the film sets into a tourist attraction, marking him as a pioneer in the days before China had any real tourist industry outside of Beijing.

Three years later, Xi was appointed vice mayor of a region not far from Taiwan. During his seventeen years in the area, he furthered the economic relations between the two districts, showing enormous growth. He was able to introduce similar economic success to the coastal province of Zhejiang when he moved there in 2002. Zhejiang's gross domestic product (GDP) for a time averaged 13 percent growth per year, thanks in part to Xi's encouragement of local entrepreneurship, particularly remarkable in a nation known for its highly regulated markets. In 2003, he also earned a law degree from Tsinghua University, having studied while he worked.

Xi's political efforts were rewarded in 2007, when he was made party head in Shanghai. Given Shanghai's status as the commercial and financial center of China, this is a position of great importance and power. The previous head, Chen Liangyu, was fired and investigated for mishandling of funds, and Xi was seen as a new youthful face for the Communist Party.

Later in 2007, Xi and three others were appointed to the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee (the highest executive committee of the Communist Party). In November of the same year, it was announced that he would oversee affairs dealing with Hong Kong and Macau, two territories which had recently returned to Chinese rule. The position was seen by many as following in the footsteps of then Vice President Zeng Qinghong and thus was a prediction of even higher rank within the Communist Party.

Those predictions gained strength in 2008. On March 12, Xi was placed in charge of handling security for and overseeing the summer's Beijing Olympic Games. As the games drew closer, the nation faced increasing concern and criticism for its human rights record, and, under Xi's leadership, China set out to prove that it was safe for foreigners to attend the games and that pollution would also not be a problem for visitors.

Just a few days after the announcement of his Olympic responsibilities, at the eleventh National People's Congress, Xi was elected vice president of China. In that post, he was noted for a career that largely avoided both scandal and political opposition. Among other accomplishments, he helped to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of diplomatic relations with India in May 2010, receiving a state visit from Indian president Pratibha Patil. Observers soon widely expected Xi to step into the seat of president after Hu Jintao's retirement.

On November 15, 2012, Xi was elected both chair of the Communist Party and chair of the Central Military Commission. Many noted that his early speeches after taking on these elite leadership roles showed a more Western approach than his predecessors, including calls for reforms in education, health care, and the job market. He also prominently spoke out against government corruption. As expected, Xi was then elected president of China on March 14, 2013.

Once he was in full power, Xi began to exert his influence over national policy. He began the major anticorruption program he had promised, and undertook reforms in the criminal and judicial systems. He pushed heavily for increased Chinese influence on the international stage, including through the "One Belt, One Road" trade initiative launched in 2014 and the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. China's economy had begun to slow after years of strong growth, and Xi worked to generate new forms of stimulus. Some of these moves had significant impact outside of China as well, such as a sudden devaluation of the yuan in 2015 that some criticized as currency manipulation. Meanwhile, Xi also supported a buildup of the Chinese military, including equipment upgrades for the air force and navy.

Over the years Xi consolidated his power, adding titles and honors while using his anticorruption effort to crack down on rivals. In 2016 he became commander in chief of the Central Military Commission's joint battle command center and was just the fourth person ever to be given the designation "core leader" by the Communist Party. His standing in the country's ruling party was further solidified in 2017, when he joined Mao as the only leaders to have their names and ideologies officially included in the CCP constitution. The following year Xi had his ideology added to the Chinese national constitution as well, and he was also able to push through an amendment abolishing term limits for the president and vice president. Xi was unanimously reelected to a second presidential term in March 2018.

As president of China Xi was consistently considered one of the most powerful and influential people in the world. However, he was also frequently criticized by international observers for authoritarian rule and potentially encouraging a cult of personality. Many human rights experts noted his administration heavily relied on state surveillance and censorship. A notable example of the level of power wielded by Xi's government came with the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and became a global pandemic in 2020. While China was able to slow the spread of the virus within its borders relatively quickly and effectively, outside observers suggested this was due to methods such as forced lockdowns and GPS tracking that would be illegal in most other countries. Some public health experts also accused Xi and other Chinese leaders of worsening the pandemic by withholding early information about COVID-19.

Xi and the Chinese government were the focus of controversy surrounding the government-sanctioned programs that target Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, a western province of China. The persecution of Uyghurs began in 2014 when the Chinese government started forcibly placing Uyghurs in internment camps in order to curb separatist movements in the province and ensure loyalty to the Chinese government. The resulting treatment of the Uyghurs by the Chinese government was condemned by the United Nations in 2019. Then, in January 2021, the US State Department declared the situation a genocide and a violation of human rights. The controversy was later renewed when China hosted the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Worldwide response included a diplomatic boycott of the games by Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Xi's government described the camps as "re-education camps" intended to assimilate Uyghur culture into the Chinese mainstream.

In a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Beijing in February 2022, Xi and Putin issued a statement that condemned western aggression and military organizations such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) for threatening the global balance of power and indicated that China and Russia will cooperate to bring their version of democracy to the world. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the Wall Street Journal reported that China was attempting to benefit from the power struggle between Russia and the United States and its NATO allies in an effort to emerge as the preeminent superpower. The New York Times reported that same month that the Chinese government had prior knowledge of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and that China asked Russia to delay the invasion until after the 2022 Winter Olympics.

As part of his attempts to consolidate power, in October 2022, Xi secured a third term as general secretary of the CCP, the first Chinese leader since Mao to do so. The following month, amid a long period of increased tension between China and the United States, Xi met US president Joe Biden at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia; during this meeting, which marked the first time Xi and Biden had met in person since Biden's election in 2020, the pair discussed a number of issues. US-China relations deteriorated further in February 2023 after the US military shot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon after it passed over US territory; the United States described the balloon's operation as a violation of US sovereignty, whereas Xi's government accused the United States of violating international law by using excessive force. In September 2024, China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time in forty-four years. An ICBM has the potential to travel 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers). This ICBM was equipped with a dummy warhead and plunged into water near French Polynesia. Countries such as the United States believed the ICBM was an indication of China's fast-growing nuclear program.

Meanwhile, as the war between Russia and Ukraine continued in 2024, Xi worked to build stronger economic ties between Russia and China, while maintaining distance from the conflict itself. During the same year, Xi vowed to "reunify" China and Taiwan, even though China had never controlled Taiwan, using force, if necessary.

Personal Life & Reputation

Xi's success in the Chinese political arena initially surprised many. His status as Xi Zhongxun's son brought disadvantages (due to his father's notoriety as an alleged traitor); but he was also been accused of enjoying favoritism. However, his reputation for a down-to-earth, hardworking nature helped him overcome these conflicting perceptions. After rising to the presidency he enjoyed widespread popularity within China.

In the early 1980s Xi married Ke Lingling, but the two soon divorced. Xi then married Chinese folk and opera singer Peng Liyuan on September 1, 1987. They met several years earlier but Peng's family had reservations about a possible match, given the notoriety of Xi Zhongxun. The couple had one daughter, Xi Mingze, born in 1992. Owing to Peng's successful singing career and the nature of Xi's political career, the couple spent much time apart.

Bibliography

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