And that’s a lot of headache for India and many others.

Absolute rulers tend to overdo their remit, nervous as they generally are to prove their continued existence. They have to prove they are powerful, at least as much as they show. They have to show they have control and they have to terrorise others not to speak up and protest.

Now that he is the absolute de jure and de facto ruler, he will also have to prove himself. In fact, he has been trying to show that for some time now, both at home and abroad.

There are some clear trends in China’s trajectory under Xi Jinping. For the rest of the world what is most important is that under Xi China has been spectacularly assertive. This has taken the shape of assertion of territorial claims. This of course has a historical baggage.

Even though it has grown considerably, it has continued to speak about the historical injustices to China during the age of Western ascendancy and humiliations it has been subjected to. China has spoken of “Greater China” which includes large chunks of territories which now belong to its neighbours for as long as even histories could remember.

China has claims on the whole of the South China Sea, including even territorial waters of littoral states like Vietnam, Japan to the Philippines; it claims wide swathes of Central Asian neighbouring countries; it has claims on lands belonging to Russia, though recognising Russian military might China has only muted claims; it has already absorbed Tibet, even though historically Tibet has always been a separate country.

For India what is moot point is that China has claims on an entire state of the country, Arunachal Pradesh, as it says the area is South Tibet and therefore belongs to China. It had usurped border regions of the state since 1969 and built villages on land belonging to India in the last two years.

To demonstrate its military might over India, last year China mounted major incursions into Ladakh region. It thought it will have a clear sweep over India to prove to its domestic audience. However, the face-off inflicted heavy casualties on China as well, while India lost lives of twenty soldiers.

With Xi Jinping getting his absolute position now, he will be at his old game once again. He will try to prove his high position and power to the world and his domestic audience by mounting fresh aggressions. This is why India must be wary of the formal recognition of Xi as supreme leader.

And what Supreme Leader has he become.

The Chinese Communist Party was founded in 1921 and in the last one hundred years, there appears to be only three such supreme leaders: Mao Tse Tung, who founded the party and ruled till 1972 when he died; Deng Tsiao Ping, who succeeded Mao and revised entire historical experience till Mao’s death which kicked off the reforms that made China the economic power it is today. Deng had unleashed the capitalist instincts and animal spirits.

And now, Xi Jinping, who has got passed a historical resolution at the party’s Central Committee meet yesterday, which recognised Xi’s personal role in the rise of the nation to the status of a world power. The historical resolution mentions Xi alongside Mao and Deng and thus seals his position on the same pedestal as the other two.

As part of that historical experience of the CCP, the Central Committee has also agreed to Xi continuing to rule for a third term, which was prohibited until now. As a matter of fact, this is a reversal of a cardinal rule that Deng’s reforms had introduced: constitutionally stated limited term for the highest position of president.

This in effect would mean Xi would continue to rule for life, that is, at least till death do part him from China in this world.

With such sweeping powers of life-time absolute rule for one man, like the medieval kings and emperors, what can be expected is only absurd assertions of power and sheer instability in the neighbourhood regions. The first things for China’s neighbours to do would be arming themselves to the teeth, whatever happens to their overall development.

Neither is it good for China itself.

Already in his search for absolute power, Xi has triggered the process of destruction of the very spirit that catapulted China, in course of just thirty years, to the dominant economic powerhouse of today. He has humbled the immensely valuable technology behemoths like Alibaba, the Ant Group and many others.

He has demonstrated to his domestic audience that however rich you could be and however powerful and ingenuous an entrepreneur you could be, it is CCP that is supreme. The country’s historical experience still moored to the party and not to the technology providers. The Xi moves are sure to destroy eventually the capitalist spirit that Deng had unshackled. In the name of “common prosperity”, he is tying up China economic machine and its wonderful achievements.

Xi had not stopped at controlling these perceived power centres (money and financial power centres). Xi had with great panache and deliberations now continued to control the whole of Chinese society.

Almost two years back, one of the most prominent names of Chinese entertainment industry, who had millions of followers, had suddenly vanished. There were speculations about his fate, only to find year later that he was languishing in some minor situations, away from the limelight.

Xi has not spared the technology companies in the education space. He barred technology education companies providing special tuitions to children from better off families. He has disfavoured the luxury goods segment and sale of (mostly) high value European luxury goods products. While earlier, Rolex watches used to sell by droves, their sales have apparently diminished to a trickle.

Xi is now promoting “manly virtues” and Chinese society is coming down heavily on such things as same sex marriages or lipstick smacking boys. Now Xi is tempting to control the minds of Chinese children and enslave them to his manner of thinking. Xi has made it mandatory for school pupils to learn “Xi’s Thoughts” as compulsory part of curriculum.

To sum up, Xi’s rule has been marked by three principal trends: first and foremost, an expansionist agenda, backed by China’s historical experience; second, a tendency to humble anyone who achieves eminence, including in economic sphere. And thirdly, an agenda to control the Chinese mind and demand unquestioned submission and loyalty to one man.

These apparently innocuous domestic directions are no isolated instances. These are part of a worldview — that of an absolute dictator. It has been seen many times back in history. Unfortunately these can cast a heavy price on humanity at large. (IPA Service)