China’s future under Xi Jinping: Challenges ahead
Channel: ANU TV
Date: 2016-11-10

President Xi Jinping is a third of the way through his expected 10-year term as China’s top leader. Already he has put a strong personal stamp on his time in office, significantly differentiating himself from his predecessors in both the style and substance of his leadership. Taking tough measures against corruption and dissent at home and pursuing an active agenda abroad, President Xi has carefully cultivated an image of a confident strongman keen to deliver on his promised “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”. But while it can claim some successes, Xi Jinping’s leadership has raised even more questions and uncertainties both within China and amongst China’s neighbours.

What do we know about President Xi’s leadership style? How vulnerable is his domestic reform agenda? Can he return China to a more stable set of relationships with its regional neighbours, including the United States? What are some of the biggest obstacles ahead in realising the “China dream”?

Drawing from more than 30 years’ experience closely following Chinese affairs, Professor Bates Gill will tackle these and other questions about China’s future under Xi Jinping.

About the speaker:

Professor Bates Gill is Professor of Asia Pacific Strategic Studies with the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, The Australian National University. He is also a Board Director with China Matters, a Sydney-based non-profit public policy initiative. Professor Gill has a long record of research and publications on Chinese politics, foreign relations and security policy. His next book, entitled China: Getting it Right for Australia, co-authored with Linda Jakobson, will be published by Black Inc in March 2017. Professor Gill was selected by the China Foreign Affairs University as one the top 10 American China watchers for his political, scholarly and social impact. He held the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC (2002-2007) and was the Director and Chief Executive of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) (2007-2012), an independent think tank consistently recognised as one of the world’s leading institutes in international affairs. Since first working in China in 1986, Professor Gill has lived in the country for a total of three years and made 60 additional visits over the past 30 years.

Thumbnail image courtesy: Huffington Post