Xi Jinping masters “The Art of the Stall”
China’s Xi Jinping appears to have played his hand well in the face of hostility and threats from Donald Trump. But at home, his position may not be as secure as it seems.

If Xi Jinping wrote a book about dealing with Donald Trump, it would probably focus on “exploiting the US president’s greatest weaknesses” – and then “using the time gained” to strengthen China’s position, says The New York Times. “The Art of the Stall” appears to have been Beijing’s strategy. Rather than yield to tariff threats, China played the “trump card” of its control of critical minerals, while kicking thornier disputes deep into the long grass of “framework” talks. As an exercise in cunning, it cannot be faulted.
The irony, says The Spectator, is that even as Xi basks in the admiration of Western strategists, his position at home is looking ever less secure. Two years ago, the dictatorial Communist Party leader “presumptuously declared his intention to rule until 2032”. Plenty of people are now prepared to bet against that outcome. Reading the runes of what is going on in the opaque world of Chinese politics is always difficult, but of late, China-watchers have “detected subtle changes”.
In the last two weeks of May, Xi seemingly disappeared from public view – and his once ubiquitous presence on the front cover of the “People’s Liberation Army Daily” has become much patchier. His power base also appears under threat. Prominent members of Xi’s “Fujian faction” – including the vice-chair of the Central Military Commission and a senior admiral – have been arrested or investigated, while “other Xi generals have been removed from their posts”. A 40-episode drama series, Time in the Northwest, was dropped by China’s main state broadcaster after just two episodes. The piece was “an unashamed glorification” of Xi’s family – in particular his father, Xi Zhongxun. A revolutionary who rose to power under Mao before being purged in the Cultural Revolution, he was rehabilitated under the reformist Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Unshakeable loyalty
Few people have shaped Xi, who was born in 1953, as much as his father, says The Economist. Which is why a new biography of Xi Zhongxun by the American scholar Joseph Torigian conveys such fascinating, and sometimes gruesome, insights. In The Party’s Interests Come First, Torigian shows that, throughout his life, “Xi has been loyal to two groups that demand absolute obedience: the party and the family”. Both were often strict, yet that never dented his loyalty. As a boy, Xi washed in his father’s bathwater and practised deference at every turn, having been taught that “children who did not respect their parents were doomed to fail as adults”. Even when Xi was in his mid-30s and a rising star in the party, the ordeals continued. Torigian relates how Xi Zhongxun – then in his 70s with rotten teeth – “extracted some half-masticated garlic ribs from his mouth and gave them to his son to finish”. Xi accepted “without hesitation or complaint”.
After the hardships the family had endured during the Cultural Revolution, this probably seemed tame. When Xi Zhongxun was kidnapped, held in solitary confinement and tortured, his family was forced to denounce him. One daughter committed suicide, while the teenaged Xi was branded a traitor and forced to wear a heavy steel cap in front of a baying crowd. “His mother joined in the jeering.” Shortly after, Xi was “sent down” to a desolate part of the country, where he lived in a cave.
Xi’s rise began when his father became governor of Guangdong province, a “Special Economic Zone”, under Deng. But expectations that he would become an economic reformer proved premature. “His experience of injustice has not taught him that arbitrary power is undesirable; only that it should be wielded less chaotically than it was under Mao, by someone wise like himself,” says The Economist.
Might his time be up? Similar rumours have circulated before and come to nothing, says The Spectator. But given “the dire problems facing China” and the “indifferent performance” of its autocratic leader, it’s quite plausible that “CCP elders are casting around” for a more liberal successor. “If so, the consequences for Taiwan, and US-China relations, could be dramatic – and possibly beneficial to both.”
This article was first published in MoneyWeek's magazine. Enjoy exclusive early access to news, opinion and analysis from our team of financial experts with a MoneyWeek subscription.
Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.
Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.
She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.
Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.
She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.
-
73% of savers plan to rely on partner’s pension in retirement
A new survey suggests the majority of people may lack financial independence in retirement, with almost three-quarters set to rely on their partner’s pension
-
How much you need to follow the 25x retirement rule – will you have enough to be financially independent?
We explain what the 25x retirement rule is and the amount you would need to be financially independent in retirement.
-
The financial crisis in UK universities – what can be done?
UK universities are running out of cash and have begun to shed staff; bankruptcies look likely. What’s gone wrong, and what should be done about it?
-
'Governments are launching an assault on the independence of central banks'
Opinion Say goodbye to the era of central bank orthodoxy and hello to the new era of central bank dependency, says Jeremy McKeown
-
Why investors can no longer trust traditional statistical indicators
Opinion The statistical indicators and data investors have relied on for decades are no longer fit for purpose. It's time to move on, says Helen Thomas
-
The most likely outcome of the AI boom is a big fall
Opinion Like the dotcom boom of the late 1990s, AI is not paying off – despite huge investments being made in the hope of creating AI-based wealth
-
The rise of Robin Zeng: China’s billionaire battery king
Robin Zeng, a pioneer in EV batteries, is vying with Li Ka-shing for the title of Hong Kong’s richest person. He is typical of a new kind of tycoon in China
-
How retail investors can gain exposure to Lloyd’s of London
It’s hard for retail investors to get in on the action at Lloyd’s of London. Here are some of the ways to gain exposure
-
The goal of business is not profit, but virtue
Opinion Serve your customers well, and the profits will follow, according to a new book. It rarely works the other way around, says Stuart Watkins
-
Earnings estimates are a rigged game – especially in the US
The number of US stocks beating earnings estimates tells us only that guidance has deliberately been set too low