The Communist Party functions on the promise that life under its governance is more profitable and beneficial than life under any other form of government, namely a liberal democracy. For President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party, the rise of the coronavirus and its impact on trade and the daily lives of over one billion Chinese citizens creates significant problems to be solved. As a one-party government, the power structure in China is unilateral - at times authoritarian and controlling. There are sacrifices that the Chinese people themselves must make in supporting a government that makes some decisions for its people at the cost of political rights. With the spread of COVID-19, a highly discontented and frustrated population of one billion individuals is not an acceptable situation for China’s governing leaders. It may cause individuals to rethink whether the promises of a one party government can provide prosperity or longevity for its people.
Particularly for President Xi, whose authority has been compared to that of Chairman Mao Zhedong at the height of his power, the national health crisis in China is a real political threat. Xi rose to his current position with promises of economic prosperity through expanded executive control and risk management for the people of China. His centralization of authority, moving away from delegating power to subordinates or future successors, has been with the trust that the office of the president would lead the country in a top-down chain of command that was responsive to any crises. With officials in Wuhan claiming that Beijing was too slow to respond to the coronavirus and others stating that negligence and misinformation of the virus’ danger put the world at risk, President Xi must now operate under the critical public eye more than ever.
The spread of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, was recently announced a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. For Chinese political leaders, the fingers pointed at the Communist Party with accusations that the outbreak in Wuhan was mishandled are both alarming and threatening. Beijing officials have responded hotly to associations of the origin of the virus even being focused on Wuhan, where it was first reported, and noted that such assumptions contributed to the stigmatization of their nation and its government.
Xiao Qiang is the founder of China Digital Times, a website that leaks directives issued by the Communist Party’s strategizing committee for government propaganda. Recently, he has noted the surge of anti-American rhetoric in public forums and media in response to the United States and its frustrations with the Chinese government regarding the coronavirus. According to Qiang, much of the noise may actually be organized by the Communist Party. “It’s an orchestrated, all-out campaign by the Chinese government through every channel at a level you rarely see,” remarked Qiang to The Washington Post. “It’s a counteroffensive.”
It would not be the first time that the Chinese government has turned to use of their nation’s intranet, news and media outlets to engender support for their one-party viewpoints. A similar phenomenon occurred following the controversial elimination of presidential term limits in 2018. At the time, Deng Yuwen, a political commentator on China’s current policies, noted to Aljazeera that with the oversight of President Xi, “Control of the press is at an unprecedented level.”
As the coronavirus’ spread in Wuhan seems to have hit a turning point for the better, the Chinese public is already seeing the campaign to avert the blame for the virus away from the Communist Party’s growing cult of personality. President Xi recently visited Wuhan’s hospitals and conducted video conferences with patients in the region in a “choreographed victory lap” according to The Washington Post. Furthermore, reports from Channel News Asia as well as analysis conducted by The Center for American Progress note that both investigations and convictions are underway for corrupted officials and irresponsible leaders in Wuhan who did not respond accordingly to the coronavirus outbreak. According to The Center for American Progress, this may very well be an effort to redirect the pointed finger of accusation away from Beijing and toward the city of Wuhan.
With a political cleanup on the way and President Xi commending the Communist Party’s response to the coronavirus, the developing campaign may very well result in a further centralization of power into the office of President Xi. Lower-level officials in Wuhan, afterall, may not be trusted with the authority that Beijing itself must ultimately wield. President Xi may not only walk away from the crisis unscathed, he may use the coronavirus as fuel for his growing cult of personality. President Xi is presenting an argument that he must be trusted with the power that others, corrupt and lackluster politicians, cannot.
Following his press tour in Wuhan, a state-run media organization wrote of President Xi’s dedication, noting that he had a “pure heart like a newborn’s that always puts the people as his number one priority.”
