The Political Thought of Xi Jinping

On Thursday, September 19th, the Clements-Strauss Asia Policy Program hosted Dr. Olivia Cheung, Research Fellow at the China Institute at SOAS University of London, for a virtual talk on The Political Thought of Xi Jinping.

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Dr. Cheung will present the main findings of The Political Thought of Xi Jinping, the new book she co-authored with Steve Tsang for Oxford University Press. She will offer a contextualized interpretation of the meaning of Xi’s major doctrines and concepts on Chinese politics, economy, society, and foreign policy. It is argued that the vision of Xi Jinping Thought can be distilled into two core elements or ambitions. The first is to create “one state, one people, one ideology, one party, and one leader.” The second is to make China great again and better than any other country in the world. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of China’s direction of travel under Xi and its implications for China and the world.

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Dr. Olivia Cheung (DPhil, Oxon) is Research Fellow of the China Institute at SOAS University of London. She is the author of Factional-Ideological Conflicts in Chinese Politics: To the Left or to the Right? (Amsterdam University Press, 2023; e-book gold open access) and co-author of The Political Thought of Xi Jinping (Oxford University Press, 2024). Her current research project is on China’s Global Strategy. Prior to SOAS, she taught Chinese politics and East Asia’s political economy at the University of Warwick.

The Asia Policy Program is a joint effort of the Clements Center for National Security and the Strauss Center for International Security and Law.