China: A Thorough Explanation of China’s Long-Term Strategy - War on the Rocks : by Rush Doshi

What are the Chinese Communist Party’s intentions? Does it seek to turn China into the hegemon of Asia and a global superpower? Or does it just aim to stay in power by whatever means necessary? Unfortunately, U.S. policymakers and analysts haven’t come to an agreement on how to answer these questions. That’s a problem, because China’s intentions ought to shape how the United States develops its strategy toward the Indo-Pacific.

Fortunately, Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping has made the answer to the first question much plainer for people inside and outside China. Xi marked the party’s centenary on July 1 with an hour-long speech about the party’s achievements and ambitions. Throughout the speech, Xi referenced the need to stay true to the party’s “original aspiration” and “founding mission” to bring about the “Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation.” “To realize national rejuvenation,” Xi said, “the Party has united and led the Chinese people in pursuing a great struggle, a great project, a great cause, and a great dream.” Such language is a routine feature of leadership speeches, especially speeches Xi has given during his near decade in power. But what does it mean? What are the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitions? Should we understand Xi’s words as soaring rhetoric to mobilize the party faithful or as a plain statement of the party’s positions?

For all the talk in Washington about a new consensus on the China challenge, no consensus exists on the intentions of the Chinese Communist Party. Experienced and respected analysts still insist that the Chinese Communist Party just wants to stay in power or that its ambitions are regional rather than global. They believe Xi’s words — like those of every other party leader dating back to Mao Zedong — are formulaic tropes, signs of a moribund party trapped in its Leninist theory. The alternative view is that this formulaic language and the intellectual architecture built around national rejuvenation provides the basis for understanding the party’s ambitions. Debating the party’s ambitions may seem distant from the urgency of today’s problems in Sino-American relations. A clear answer to this question, however, is necessary to calibrate the U.S. response and to decide whether to revisit the goal of trying to preserve a liberally-biased international order or to pursue a more aggressive course, like containing or otherwise neutralizing the regime.

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