This topic assesses the dramatic policy shifts underway in China under the leadership of Xi Jinping since 2012. Xi defines his leadership in terms of achieving the 'China Dream', or the 'rejuvenation of the nation'. The topic explores what this means and the challenges it faces.
Is Xi pursuing a 'grand strategy' to ensure China's rise to 'great power' status?
Domestically, the China Dream centres on 'cleansing' the ruling Communist Party of corruption and reasserting its ideological control over all aspects of political, economic and social life. Internationally, Xi's 'China Dream' centres on establishing a 'new type of great power relationship' with the US, challenging its 'primacy', especially in Asia, defining China's interests in terms of the values of its civilisation, and establishing the right to help 'write the rules' of the international order.
The topic asks whether China's 'dream' is everybody else's 'nightmare'?
This topic aims to:
Timetable details for 2021 are no longer published.