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00:00[CC may contain inaccuracies] Some of the key takeaways is that Xi Jinping is now a while possibly could be ruling for life and that his status has been elevated to the likes of Mao and Tung. Does he deserve this place in history. You think. Well that's one for the history books to write but certainly Xi Jinping sees himself on par with those two leaders which I think tells us that he sees himself as a fundamentally transformational leader for China. And in some ways that's hard to argue with. When you look at where China was 10 years and where it is today he has had an extraordinary impact. I think that the big question for us though is and you just mentioned this. We haven't had a leader for life in China since since Mao. And obviously that came with some downsides as well as up. You've got to wonder how he'll be navigating it. I mean he's holding on to power at a time. That's pretty uncertain for China. We have you know people that's pretty much disillusioned. The young finding it difficult to find jobs. Fertility rate at about one point three percent. How do you see him navigating and will come in for disparity. Save the day. Well in some sense I think one of the reasons Xi Jinping is saying that he needs to stay on that we need a steady hand on the tiller is precisely because China is looking out at a pretty significant set of headwinds. You mentioned demographics total factor productivity slump. You have some social issues around sort of general malaise. And of course you have an increasingly volatile and uncertain external environment for Chinese Chinese firms. So that is precisely one of the things Xi Jinping is saying is I alone and the one who's going to be able to tackle these uncommon prosperity just just quickly in and of itself. No common prosperity is about sort of shaving off the edges of some of the real sort of manifest signs of inequality. But but you know if we think about common prosperity is really the opening salvo in a new phase of Chinese policymaking that's going to be designed to address social maladies issues around you know the real estate sector closing the regulatory space around some consumer facing technology companies addressing some of the issues that are affecting the cost of living. Then I think this could over this stretch of the next decade do some make some significant headway. So dude you're not suggesting that this is an ideological reset in any way. That's a great question. Yes and no I think it's hard to read the the plenum communique this morning or just the verbiage surrounding the six plenum and then leading up to the 20th party Congress and not see that they're clearly saying look the growth model that was working throughout the reform and opening period has has run out of gas. And we're telling you right now that we're entering a new phase of China's development. And along with that a new set of ideological constructs. If the subtext to your question is is Xi Jinping going full blown communism. No I don't think it's that severe. But I also don't think we should minimize the ideological knock on effects of even just shifting the focus of the growth model from aggregate quantity of growth to a more qualitative approach to growth. Well with that in mind we have already talked a little bit about common prosperity with that is also this notion of dual circulation. Now if we marry that with let's say this tepid involvement with G 20 and COP 26 and then also the reasons of Covid of course use efficiently that Xi Jinping has not left China for nearly two years. The question is is China turning inward. Yeah it really important question. And I think the answer is in part. So the obviously some of the decisions around the insularity here are about as you said Covid. Also the political calendar for Xi Jinping whether it's the Sixth Plenum which we can now see why that was so important to him. The Olympics in February the National People's Congress next March and then the big one. The 20th party Congress Xi Jinping has a lot on his domestic plate. So I think clearly we're going to see a structural inward turn over the next 12 months. I think there's going to be a bit of a rate reset when he gets through the 20th party Congress. He's going to emerge confident. I think he's going to have a new renewed mandate and mission. So I think you'll see him get out into the world. But I take your question and agree. I think there has been a shift in terms of the Communist Party's thinking about what the external environment means and what dual circulation is saying is look we want to be internationally integrated but on our own terms and avoiding some of the pitfalls of supply chain choke points navigating some of the sanctions regimes. So in the aggregate yes I think China is going to be a it's going to be a more marginally inward looking country than it was a decade ago. Right. Do there's a headline here from the party official at the briefing currently happening and he says that she is at the core of the call of times the choice of history. Now you talk about how China is increasingly looking at words. What does it necessarily mean for its vision to be a global player then. Well its credibility be dented. And how will it walk from here. You know I think some of the verbiage around this is kind of emerging cult of Xi Jinping is is worrying but I think Xi Jinping core focus in many ways in addition to some of the domestic challenges we mentioned is pushing China out to be a truly global power of kind of aggregate what they call comprehensive national power by 2035 which is one of his key goals. So ultimately you know China as long as its economy is humming along and has a Xi Jinping says a sort of a magnetic or gravitational pull. It's going to have significant significant international power. And so I think for Xi Jinping the story is consolidate power here through the 20th party. Congress really get a mandate for the next five to 10 years and then push out with my global agenda very very quickly. Final question here. We've got a leader who has coal as power language and verbiage as you put it like she had the coal of at the core. In the court of times of their choice of physical body official suggesting he has coal has so much power. The thing is we can also coalesce your enemies when you do that is the sword of Damocles over his head. Very very quickly. No there's no functional challenge to Xi Jinping. And I think we need to accept that he's large and in charge for the foreseeable future.

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China's Xi Sees Himself as Transformational Leader: CSIS

Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, looks at Chinese President Xi Jinping's leadership and its implications for the country's future. Xi delivered the first doctrine on Communist Party history by a Chinese leader in 40 years, giving him a mandate to potentially rule for life as a major meeting wraps up in Beijing. Blanchette speaks on "Bloomberg Markets: Asia."

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