BEIJING: Xi Jinping emerged from the 20th Communist Party Congress with a precedent-breaking third leadership term and a Politburo Standing Committee made up entirely of loyalists, cementing his place as China’s most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.
Under Xi’s decade in power, China has undergone profound change, both domestically and within the global context.
Here are some of the ways that China has changed under Xi.
1. Perceptions of China in the West and US-allied countries have worsened
US-China relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years, a decline that accelerated under former US President Donald Trump’s hawkish turn on Beijing. But Western perceptions have also been worsened by concerns over human rights as well as China’s increasing aggression towards Taiwan.