Coming as an embarrassment for the Communist leadership in China which considers Xi Jinping as supreme and infallible, the Chinese president has been voted as the most disliked leader in Asia-Pacific, according to a recent survey conducted in several Asian-pacific countries.
A recent survey conducted by Washington-based Pew Research Centre has revealed that Asian nations have lost confidence in the leadership of the region’s biggest economy. Attributing to China’s offensive policies against various Asian countries, it seems the Asian countries are being more vigilant against Chinese ambitions.
Around 45 per cent of respondents in six Asia-Pacific nations which included Australia, Indonesia, India, Japan, the Philippines and South Korea said that they do not have confidence in Xi Jinping’s policies.
Many countries in Asia are becoming aware of Xi’s evil-minded policies. Wary of becoming indebted to Beijing, countries are growing suspicious about receiving Chinese investment.
Respondents in Japan were the most negative on Chinese premier Xi, with 81% saying that they had no confidence in him while as many as 74% in South Korea and 54% in Australia were against Xi Jinping.
After assuming power, Xi has been trying to be the most popular leader in China after Mao even to the extent that China had approved the removal of the two-term limit on the presidency, effectively allowing Xi Jinping to remain in power for life. The constitutional changes were passed by the annual sitting of parliament, the National People’s Congress. China had imposed a two-term limit on its president since the 1990s. Anyhow, Xi, who would have been due to step down in 2023, defied the tradition of presenting a potential successor during October’s Communist Party Congress. Instead, he consolidated his political power as the party voted to enshrine his name and political ideology in the party’s constitution – elevating his status to the level of its founder, Chairman Mao.
Several countries are being colonized by China by its various investment tools and they are falling into the infamous Chinese debt-trap, even Pakistan is immensely getting swayed away by Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) farce of China through which it is capturing the resources of Pakistan. The same story tells the same truth in the Hambantota port debt-trap of China. Even in Kenya, as per several reports, the people are protesting against Chinese colonization of the country.
The newly built Chinese railway line, from the port city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, which cost 3.3 billion dollars, had shot up the cost of transportation by 50 per cent. China built the railway line under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Maldives former president had even announced, “In the last few years, without a single shot being fired, China has grabbed more land than the East India Company had ever done. If I were to take this contract to commercial arbitration, it will be same as somebody in Kolkata taking East India Company to arbitration.”
Another reason for Xi Jinping’s falling popularity is China’s military growth with its brazen ambition of supremacy in the South China Sea, disregarding every concern of other countries, creating conflicts on a daily basis. Even today, prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have thrown out a case against China brought by the Philippines which accused its superpower neighbour of crimes against humanity for its “atrocious actions” in the South China Sea.
The most striking reason for the dip in the popularity of Xi Jinping could be the treatment of Uyghur Muslims, the world is increasingly getting aware of China’s human rights record in relation to its Uyghur population. People from around the globe including India have been instrumental in exposing the Chinese inhumane treatment of its Muslim population.
Further the Hong Kong movement which started as a protest movement against China’s rule to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland China, which later snowballed into a broader campaign calling for greater democracy, police accountability and an amnesty for those arrested, it seems that the Chinese Communist Party is still in stormy waters despite scrapping of hugely controversial Extradition bill. Hong Kong issue, in which the US meddled like never before, has shown the world that Xi Jinping is just another leader trying to be infallible.
Apart from the US meddling in the Hong Kong issue, China is embroiled in a protracted spat with the U.S. over issues including trade tariffs, intellectual property theft and cyber espionage, as well as Beijing’s human rights record. Moreover, all the other Asia-Pacific nations are democratic, which China is not, it has no regard for human rights, no regard for concern of other countries and that is the reason behind various Asian countries disliking Xi. Although China has a huge economy and a great market but there is no doubt Xi Jinping is perhaps the most hated leader in Asia-Pacific.
