Sir — This refers to the article, “Xi Jinping: Chinese Emperor for lifeIJ” by Claude Arpi (March 1). One has no doubt that with the occupation of the three most important posts in the Communist Chinese apparatus: The General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the country’s President, Xi Jinping has emerged as the most powerful dictator, on the lines of Mao Zedong, the architect of the China’s Communist revolution who took power in 1949.
The writer has rightly underlined ‘the extremely worrying’ situation that might result vis-à-vis the South China Sea, Doklam, and ‘more sophisticated repression in Tibet...’
However, it is a sad fact that potential dictators don’t learn from history. There are examples of Soviet and German dictators like Joseph Stalin and Hitler. Yet, Xi Jinping is discarding the two-term rule of his party to become the Emperor for life.
He has overlooked democratic aspirations and systems prevailing in Chinese-dominated Hong Kong and Taipei. The inevitable end-result is generally tragic. Dissident voices are already appearing in the media, reflecting anti-dictatorial mood of the common Chinese people.