Xi Jinping

There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us… First, China doesn't export Revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more is there to be said?

Happiness does not fall out of the blue and dreams will not come true by themselves. We need to be down-to-earth and work hard. We should uphold the idea that working hard is the most honorable, noblest, greatest and most beautiful virtue.

I have had closer interactions with President Putin than with any other foreign colleagues. He is my best and bosom friend. I cherish dearly our deep friendship.

Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party and the downfall of the State.

Xi Jinping (Simplified Chinese: 习近平; pinyin: Xí Jìnpíng; born June 15, 1953) is a Chinese politician currently serving as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC), President of the People's Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Quotes

2000s

• It was the greatest contribution towards the whole of human race, made by China, is to prevent its 1.3 billion people from hunger.
  • Statement during his visit to Mexico (11 February 2009) as quoted in "China's Xi named to oversee military, a step closer to presidency" in International Business TImes (18 October 2010)

• There are some bored foreigners, with full stomachs, who have nothing better to do than point fingers at us… First, China doesn't export Revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more is there to be said?
  • As quoted in "China's Xi named to oversee military, a step closer to presidency" in International Business Times (18 October 2010).

2010s

• Corruption could lead to the collapse of the Party [Communist Party of China] and the downfall of the State [People's Republic of China].
  • As quoted in "Opinion: Corruption as China's top priority" in cnn.com (7 January 2013).

• Safeguarding the interests of our Taiwan compatriots and expanding their well-being is the mainland's oft-repeated pledge and solemn promise of the new leaders of China's Communist Party central committee.
  • As quoted in "China's Xi to tread peaceful, patient path on Taiwan" in Reuters (25 February 2013).

• Of course, we also are soberly aware that historical problems remain in cross-strait relations, and that there will be issues in the future that will require time, patience and joint efforts to resolve.
  • As quoted in "China’s Xi pledges peaceful ties with Taiwan in meeting" in Taipei Times (26 February 2013).

• Why must we stand firm on the party's leadership over the military? Because that's the lesson from the collapse of the Soviet Union. In Soviet Union, where the military was depoliticized, separated from the party and nationalized, the party was disarmed. When the country came to crisis point, a big party was gone just like that. Proportionally, the Soviet Communist Party had more members than we (Communist Party of China) do, but nobody was man enough to stand up and resist.
  • As quoted in "China's new President Xi Jinping: A man with a dream" in BBC News (14 March 2013).

• To further promote anti-corruption efforts, we need to insist on the successful experiences gained through the Party's long-term anti-corruption practice. We need to actively draw on effective practices conducted by foreign countries around the world, and our own valuable heritage.
  • As quoted in "President Xi: Anti-corruption efforts need to draw on heritage" in cctv.com English (20 April 2013).

• Happiness does not fall out of the blue and dreams will not come true by themselves. We need to be down-to-earth and work hard. We should uphold the idea that working hard is the most honorable, noblest, greatest and most beautiful virtue.
  • As quoted in "Xi Jinping meets model workers" in cctv.com English (1 May 2013).

• The issue [Israeli-Palestinian conflict], already lasting more than half a century, has brought deep suffering to the Palestinian people and remains an important reason of extended turbulence in the Middle East region.
  • As quoted in "China rebukes Israel ahead of Netanyahu visit" in cnn.com (7 May 2013).

• I think both sides [China and United States] should work hard to build a new type of relationship between big powers. The two sides should cooperate with each other for a win-win result in order to benefit people from the two countries and the world.
  • As quoted in "Xi, Obama vow to step up cooperation" in cctv.com English (8 June 2013).

• [We should] set our eyes on the future. The political differences between the Chinese mainland and Taiwan should eventually be solved step by step, and [we] can not let these problems hand on from generation to generation.
  • As quoted in "Xi calls for peaceful development of cross-Straits ties" in China Daily (6 October 2013).

• 网络不是法外之地。
  • Translation: Cyberspace is not the space out of law.

• All work of the party’s news and public opinion media must reflect the will of the party, mirror the views of the party, preserve the authority of the party, preserve the unity of the party, and achieve love of the party, protection of the party and acting for the party [and must maintain] a high level of uniformity with the party in ideology, politics and action
  • As quoted during Xi’s inspection tour of China Central Television (CCTV) and People’s Daily on 19 February 2016.
  • "Another View: Communist Party's loyal mouthpieces", Daily Chronicle (Feb. 24, 2016)
  • "Chinese website publishes, then pulls, explosive letter calling for President Xi’s resignation", Washington Post (March 16, 2016)

• It is for the people of Asia to run the affairs of Asia, solve the problems of Asia and uphold the security of Asia. The people of Asia have the capability and wisdom to achieve peace and stability in the region through enhanced cooperation.
  • New Asian Security Concept For New Progress in Security Cooperation，Shanghai Expo Center, 21 May 2014

• To dismiss the history of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party, to dismiss Lenin and Stalin, and to dismiss everything else is to engage in historic nihilism, and it confuses our thoughts and undermines the party’s organizations on all levels.
  • As quoted in "Xi Jinping’s quest to revive Stalin’s communist ideology" Washington Post

• First, the party’s leadership over all tasks must be adhered to, and the party’s leadership must be incessantly strengthened and improved.
  • As quoted in "4 Takeaways from Xi Jinping’s Speech Defending Communist Party Control" The New York Times

• No one is in the position to dictate to the Chinese people what should and should not be done.
  • As quoted in "4 Takeaways from Xi Jinping’s Speech Defending Communist Party Control" The New York Times

• China’s headlong plunge into capitalism over the last 40 years was not a repudiation of the Communist Party’s founding ideology, but something possible only because of it.
  • As quoted in "4 Takeaways from Xi Jinping’s Speech Defending Communist Party Control" The New York Times

• I have had closer interactions with President Putin than with any other foreign colleagues. He is my best and bosom friend. I cherish dearly our deep friendship.
  • As quoted in "18 photos that show the blossoming bromance between China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin" Business Insider

• The methods that our comrades have at hand are too primitive, none of these weapons is any answer for their big machete blades, ax heads and cold steel weapons. We must be as harsh as them and show absolutely no mercy.
  • About the Xinjiang conflict in a series of secret speeches known as the Xinjiang papers, as quoted in 'Absolutely No Mercy': Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims (November 16, 2019) by Austin Ramzy and Chris Buckley, The New York Times

Quotes about Xi Jinping

We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he's called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he's called President. ~ Donald Trump

• As we tried to make sense of Donald Trump's positions or when one of us tried to argue against them, we first had tp ask: Why is the president so attracted to autocrats? After a contentious meeting about the president's engagement with a foreign dictator, a top national security aide offered me his take. "The president sees in these guys what he wishes he had: total power, no term limits, enforced popularity, and the ability to silence critics for good." He was spot on. It was the simplest explanation... He celebrated Chinese president Xi Jinping's move to permanently install himself in office for life, calling it an "extraordinary elevation," and telling him privately that he was a "king" for having made the bold move.
  • Anonymous, A Warning (2019), p. 171

• Trump spoke with Xi Jinping by phone on June 18, ahead of 2019's Osaka G20 summit, when they would next meet. Trump began by telling Xi he missed him and then said that the most popular thing he had ever been involved with was making a trade deal with China, which would be a big plus politically. They agreed their economic teams could continue meeting. The G20 bilateral arrived, and during the usual media mayhem at the start, Trump said, "we've become friends. My trip to Beijing with my family was one of the most incredible of my life." With the press gone, Xi said this is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. He said that some (unnamed) political figures in the United States were making erroneous judgments by calling for a new cold war, this time between China and the United States. Whether Xi meant to finger the Democrats, or some of us sitting on the US side of the table, I don't know, but Trump immediately assumed Xi meant the Democrats. Trump said approvingly that there was great hostility among the Democrats. He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming US presidential election, alluding to China's economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome. I would print Trump's exact words, but the government's prepublication review process has decided otherwise.
  • John Bolton, The Room Where It Happened, Simon & Schuster, 2020, p. 202 . ISBN 978-1-9821-4805-8. 

• I think that Chairman Xi’s courage tackling corruption is an important matter in the development of Chinese society. I also look forward to him showing a bit more flexibility in dealing with cross-strait relations. I hope that he can appreciate that Taiwan is a democratic society in which the leader has to follow the will of the people.
  • Tsai Ing-wen in "Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen: Beijing must respect our democratic will" (21 July 2016)

• Xi is systematically undermining virtually every feature that made China so distinct and helped it work so well in the past. His efforts may boost his own power and prestige in the short term and reduce some forms of corruption. On balance, however, Xi’s campaign will have disastrous long-term consequences for his country and the world.
  • Jonathan Tepperman in China’s Great Leap Backward (15 October 2018)

• We have a very good relationship. People say we have the best relationship of any President-President, because he's called President also. Now some people might call him the King of China, but he's called President.
  • Donald Trump Interviewed by Lou Dobbs on Fox Business on the subject of Xi Jinping (25 October 2017)

• My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?
  • Trump in 23 August 2019

• Joe Kernen: It was a couple of years ago. Before we get started-- with- we're going talk about the economy and a lot of other things--the CDC-- has identified a case of coronavirus-- in Washington state. The Wuhan strain of this. If you remember SARS, that affected GDP. Travel-related effects. Do you-- have you been briefed by the CDC? And--

Donald Trump: I have, and--

Joe Kernen: --are there worries about a pandemic at this point?

Donald Trump: No. Not at all. And-- we're-- we have it totally under control. It's one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It's—going to be just fine.

Joe Kernen: Okay. And President Xi-- there's just some-- talk in China that maybe the transparency isn't everything that it's going to be. Do you trust that we're going to know everything we need to know from China?

Donald Trump: I do. I do. I have a great relationship with President Xi. We just signed probably the biggest deal ever made. It certainly has the potential to be the biggest deal ever made. And-- it was a very interesting period of time time.

Joe Kernen: Yeah. Let’s get into that--

Donald Trump: But we got it done, and-- no, I do. I think-- the relationship is very, very good.

• Interview with CNBC's Joe Kernen at the World Economic Forum in Davod, Switzerland, January 22, 2020. Transcript online at CNBC

• According to Pompeo [U.S. Secretary of State] , Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party of China (CPC) harbor a “decades-long desire for global hegemony.” This is ironic. Only one country – the US – has a defense strategy calling for it to be the “preeminent military power in the world,” with “favorable regional balances of power in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere.” China’s defense white paper, by contrast, states that “China will never follow the beaten track of big powers in seeking hegemony,” and that, “As economic globalization, the information society, and cultural diversification develop in an increasingly multi-polar world, peace, development, and win-win cooperation remain the irreversible trends of the times.”
  US military spending totaled $732 billion in 2019, nearly three times the $261 billion China spent. The US.. has around 800 overseas military bases, while China has just one (a small naval base in Djibouti).
  • Jeffrey Sachs, America’s Unholy Crusade Against China, Project Syndicate, (5 August 2020)

• China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!
  • Donald Trump, in a Twitter post, 24 January 2020, quoted in Trump thanks China's Xi Jinping for handling of coronavirus by Tucker Higgins, CNBC

• Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days. Nothing is easy, but he will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone. Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!
  • Donald Trump, in a Twitter thread, 7 February 2020, quoted in Trump Is Inciting a Coronavirus Culture War to Save Himself by Adam Serwer, 24 March 2020, The Atlantic.

External links

• Xi Jinping -- General Secretary of CPC Central Committee
• China / Xi Jinping on Chinadaily

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