--- title: Why China's President Xi Jinping Holds So Much Global Power description: Xi Jinping did not initiate China's transformation, but since becoming president in 2013 he has made the country his own canonical: https://time.com/6211110/china-xi-jinping-world-power/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-09-14T15:16:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-14T09:39:42.250Z article:section: Ideas og:title: China's Xi is the World's Most Powerful Leader og:description: No U.S. President has the combined political and economic power consolidated by Xi Jinping og:url: https://time.com/6211110/china-xi-jinping-world-power/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fbf27bfc507c986/698a352f4ee262037e31a8d5/xi-jinping-china-powerful-leader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: xi-jinping-china-powerful-leader og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: China's Xi is the World's Most Powerful Leader twitter:description: No U.S. President has the combined political and economic power consolidated by Xi Jinping twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8fbf27bfc507c986/698a352f4ee262037e31a8d5/xi-jinping-china-powerful-leader.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 00:34 video:published: 2022-09-15 section: world topics: Russia-China-Mongolia cooperation, trilateral partnership, bilateral cooperation, geographic neighborhood, friendship traditions, mutual respect genre: news tones: formal, positive, diplomatic emotions: pride (medium), warmth (medium), respect (low) sentiment: positive audience: international relations followers, policy readers, general news audiences transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # The Most Powerful Person in the World Is China's President > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=04f295cb-6332-40c2-b1c0-1cf6f2929f4f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Russia's Putin, China's Xi Hold Talks in Uzbekistan [Watch (HLS stream): Russia's Putin, China's Xi Hold Talks in Uzbekistan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Tgtxhg4z.m3u8) (0:34)  _Published 2022-09-15. It’s unlikely anything will top last time around. When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin last met face-to-face during the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, the Chinese and Russian leaders stunned the world by announcing a partnership “without limits,” before Putin ripped up the international order with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine less than three weeks later._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video is a short clip in Russian about a Russia-China-Mongolia format of cooperation. The speaker says this trilateral format complements bilateral cooperation and adds high value for all three countries. The speaker argues the partnership is natural given geographic proximity and long-standing traditions of friendship, mutual support, respect and sympathy among the peoples of Russia, China and Mongolia. ## Key points - The Russia-China-Mongolia format is especially significant and effectively complements bilateral cooperation among the three countries. (00:00) - The trilateral format delivers high added value for all three countries involved. (00:00) - A close trilateral partnership is natural given the geographic neighborhood of Russia, China and Mongolia. (00:16) - Long-standing traditions of friendship and mutual support underpin the partnership among the three countries. (00:16) - The peoples of Russia, China and Mongolia share mutual respect and sympathy for one another. (00:16) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:16] Value of the Russia-China-Mongolia format. The speaker describes the trilateral format as significant and complementary to bilateral ties, adding value for all three countries. - [00:16 to 00:34] Natural basis for trilateral partnership. The speaker attributes the close three-way partnership to geographic proximity and long-standing friendship and mutual respect among the peoples. ## Key quotes - [00:00] unidentified speaker: "Формат «Россия-Китай-Монголия», конечно, имеет особое значение, эффективно дополняя двустороннее сотрудничество и обеспечивая высокую добавленную стоимость для всех трёх стран." - [00:16] unidentified speaker: "Такое тесное трёхстороннее партнёрство вполне естественно, учитывая как географическое соседство, так и давние традиции дружбы и взаимные поддержки, уважения и симпатии друг к другу народов России, Китая и Монголии" ## Questions this video answers - How does the Russia-China-Mongolia format relate to bilateral cooperation? [00:00] - What value does the trilateral format provide to the three countries? [00:00] - Why is a close trilateral partnership considered natural among Russia, China and Mongolia? [00:16] - What traditions underpin relations among the peoples of Russia, China and Mongolia? [00:16] by [Stefan Aust](https://time.com/author/stefan-aust/) and [Adrian Geiges](https://time.com/author/adrian-geiges/) Sep 14, 2022 3:16 PM UTC It’s unlikely anything will top last time around. When Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin last met face-to-face during the Beijing Winter Olympics on Feb. 4, the Chinese and Russian leaders stunned the world by announcing a partnership “without limits,” before Putin ripped up the international order with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine less than three weeks later. by [Stefan Aust](https://time.com/author/stefan-aust/) and [Adrian Geiges](https://time.com/author/adrian-geiges/) Sep 14, 2022 3:16 PM UTC Many people still assume the U.S. President is the most powerful person in the world. But times have changed. In recent years we have observed two parallel developments: the President of the United States has lost power while the President of China has gained it. Ironically, it is [capitalists](https://time.com/6095560/china-common-prosperity/) who have made the Communist Party of China strong. From Apple to Microsoft, Siemens to Volkswagen, companies eager to profit from lower wages and China’s 1.4 billion customers have all shifted key elements of production from the heartlands of America and Europe to China. In 2014, China surpassed the U.S. in gross domestic product adjusted for purchasing power, putting it ahead of all other world economies. As Americans have been number one since 1872, this represents a tectonic shift, the magnitude of which most in the West have yet to grasp. Xi Jinping did not initiate this transformation, but since becoming China’s president in 2013 he has [made the country his own](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-xi-jinping-runner-up/). Xi’s transformation of China began with a campaign against corruption, punishing 1.5 million officials after coming to power, including seven from the top leadership ranks (i.e., the Politburo and ministers) as well as two dozen senior generals. Two leading officials were sentenced to death. The purges and show trials served to eliminate any actual or potential opponents and to concentrate power in Xi’s own hands. They also popularized him among the Chinese people as a strongman. Today, Xi has surpassed his goal of becoming [the new Mao.](https://time.com/5185325/china-national-peoples-congress-npc-two-sessions-xi-jinping/) In November 2021, the Communist Party’s Central Committee passed a resolution “resolutely upholding Comrade Xi Jinping’s core position on the Party Central Committee and in the Party as a whole.” It was only the third time that the Party’s Central Committee had passed a resolution about the Party’s own history. The document mentions Xi’s predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao once; the great reformer Deng Xiaoping, who was responsible for the economic transformation of China and made it a rich country, six times; and Mao Zedong eighteen times. And Xi Jinping? Twenty-four times. The resolution does not put Xi on a par with Chairman Mao—he’s elevated above him. But while Mao ruled over a poor developing country, Xi Jinping now leads an economic superpower. And while Mao relied mainly on communist doctrine, Xi wields a [more resonant](https://time.com/5448811/mma-kung-fu-xu-xiaodong/) ideological weapon: nationalism. He positions himself alongside Confucius and the Chinese emperors as the executor of a historic mission: to overcome the humiliation of the Chinese people by the former colonial powers and to end centuries of Western dominance over the world. To fulfill his mission, Xi has lifted the term limit that applied to his predecessors as President, allowing him[ to rule until death](https://time.com/5195211/china-xi-jinping-presidential-term-limits-npc/). Nationalist rhetoric justifies Xi efforts to expand China’s current territory. He has already successfully brought Hong Kong into line and jailed the democrats, without triggering any major international reactions, and he wants to[ bring Taiwan back](https://time.com/5762023/tsai-ing-wen-preserve-taiwan-democracy/) home to the empire while he is still alive. By asserting sovereignty over the South China Sea, he lays claim to resource-rich areas of Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. When Donald Trump became president of the U.S. in 2017, it was like a gift for Xi Jinping. In Europe, many mistakenly took Trump’s “America First” foreign policy strategy as an attempt to defend and expand the U.S.’s influence in the world. In reality, of course, Trump thought the U.S. should scale back its international commitments and concentrate more on domestic problems; his doctrine aimed to confine America to itself. While Joe Biden takes a different approach to foreign policy, he presides over a deeply divided country. Some even talk about the threat of civil war. The Chinese people, in contrast, accept Xi Jinping far more wholeheartedly than the American public accepts Biden or than they accepted Trump. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine makes clear how the international balance of power has shifted. Biden can threaten Putin or beg him; he cannot stop him. Xi Jinping could stop Putin if he wanted to—but he doesn’t want to, because everything is going his way. Putin invaded Ukraine after [Xi hosted him](https://time.com/6150027/china-russia-ukraine-xi-jinping-putin/) at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, where the two issued a joint statement reaffirming their shared worldview. At the time, Putin rightly understood that Western sanctions would not hurt him in the long run, since China would be happy to buy Russia’s gas and oil. With his plans for a “New Silk Road” (officially called the “[Belt and Road Initiative](https://time.com/4776845/china-xi-jinping-belt-road-initiative-obor/)”), Xi Jinping is buying himself a great deal of influence around the world. The new Silk Road covers the same area that the old one did—that is, Asia, Africa and Europe—and more, extending to Latin America. Everywhere it touches, infrastructure will be developed, trade expanded and investments made in means of transport. Xi Jinping intends to spend more than a $1 trillion dollars on it over a decade. The principle is comparable to that behind the Marshall Plan after World War II, but on a much larger scale. The U.S. Congress approved only $12.4 billion for the Marshall Plan—$139 billion in today’s dollars, or little more than a tenth of what China plans to invest. What’s even more astonishing is that, although Xi Jinping has so much power, people in the West know almost nothing about him: how [he was born into](https://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-xi-jinping-runner-up/) the family of one of the highest leaders of the People’s Republic—and then experienced a terrible crash. How he was tortured and exiled during Mao’s Cultural Revolution—and still became a staunch Mao supporter. That his wife Peng Liyuan is a highly talented singer, as famous in China as Jennifer Lopez or Beyoncé is in the U.S. The amazing fact is that his father was a friend of the Dalai Lama and the Uyghurs while Xi Jinping oppresses non-Chinese ethnic groups. He is the[ first](https://time.com/4986999/xi-jinping-china-19th-congress-ccp/) among 1.4 billion people. 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