The president of China, Xi Jinping, sent his compliments and well wishes to the new American president Donald Trump. However, his message included a warning about the necessary obligations surrounding the relationship between the two powers. For instance, the “One China” policy cannot be questioned.
The news was reported by sources at the Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry amid discussions in the local press about the possibility of China assuming a new role in a globalized world. It also comes just after Trump’s inauguration ceremony and Xi’s speech at Davos, right when everyone is wondering whether China will be able to take the reins of the international community.
In the meantime, Beijing is continuing on its course. It started the year with encouraging economic data: GDP growth of 6.7 percentage points and a boom in births due to the relaxation of the one-child law, which allows Chinese families to have two children. According to senior officer Yang Wenzhuang, of the National Commission for Health and Family Planning, last year 17.86 million births were recorded, compared to 16.55 million in 2015, the highest number since 2000.
According to authorities, there are no doubts: these numbers are evidence that the new law of two children is working, because 45 percent of new children were born into families who have had at least one child, compared with only 30 percent in 2013. Concerned about a rapidly aging population, in recent years Beijing has dismantled the one-child policy that had been in force since the ’70s, looking for the rejuvenation of its population. For China, it would seem this is the right time, when the Chinese are preparing to enter the year of the rooster.
At the same time, new titles and honors awarded to Xi seem to be endless. The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party will now also be at the head of a new central commission integrated by military and civilians, after a decision of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee. According to the state news agency Xinhua, the commission will make all decisions concerning the coordination of military and civil activities of the Chinese state. It’s yet another consolidation of power in the hands of Xi, whose star shines as never before, and not just in China.
Certainly, Xi and his “Chinese dream” have managed to change the perception of the world about China. It is no longer seen only as an aggressive power and the factory of the world, but also as a country that stands responsibly to face the dilemmas of the contemporary world.
