TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Deputy Mainland Affairs Council Minister Shen Yu-chung (沈有忠) said Friday that Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) could move toward lifelong rule as he further consolidates power.
Shen said Xi has steadily dismantled the CCP’s collective leadership system since taking power more than a decade ago, consolidating what Shen described as “one-man rule,” per SET News. He said Xi’s centralization of authority and emphasis on comprehensive national security over economic and social development continued to shape China’s governance.
He said Beijing had strengthened ideological control through laws including the national security law and the ethnic unity law, while introducing “Xi Jinping Thought on Party Building” this year. He said authorities were also using increasingly sophisticated grid-based governance and AI surveillance to control society.
China’s growing military spending could encourage the PLA to take more aggressive actions, Shen said, noting that the country’s defense budget increased by 7% this year, according to SET News. He said military purges had not reduced the PLA’s gray-zone activities around Taiwan, where Chinese navy vessels, coast guard ships, and research vessels continue to conduct operations in nearby waters.
Shen also warned that Beijing’s prioritization of national security had shifted policy resources toward state-owned capital and strategic industries, distorting market allocation. He said China’s state-led technology strategy had fueled efforts to recruit Taiwanese talent remotely and conduct commercial espionage, threatening the nation’s high-tech competitiveness and the security of global supply chains.
