The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State

Asia Society presents a talk by Elizabeth C. Economy on the sucesses and failures during Xi Jinpings first five years in office.

In The Third Revolution, eminent China scholar Elizabeth C. Economy provides an incisive look at the transformative changes now underway in China. At home, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has unleashed a powerful set of political and economic reforms, ushering in a third era of dramatic change after those of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. He has amassed significant political power, expanded the role of the Communist Party in Chinese social and economic life, and created a virtual wall of regulations to control more closely the exchange of ideas and capital between China and the outside world. Beyond its borders, Beijing has recast itself as a great power, maneuvering to be an arbiter, and not simply a player, on the world stage. In so doing, the Chinese leadership has sought to reverse the previous thirty years of political reform, economic liberalization, and low-profile foreign policy.

Through an exploration of several of Xi Jinping’s top political, economic and foreign policy priorities — fighting corruption, managing the Internet, reforming the state-owned enterprise sector, improving the country’s innovation capacity, enhancing air quality, and elevating its presence on the global stage — Economy identifies the tensions, shortcomings, and successes of President Xi’s first five years in office and assesses their implications for the rest of the world. At Asia Society, Economy will discuss China under President Xi and how the United States and the rest of the world should navigate their relationship with this vast nation in the coming years.

Photo from the Asia Society