The increasingly Leninist Xi Jinping must be talked down from confrontation

Chinese President Xi Jinping waves during the meeting between members of the standing committee of the Political Bureau of the 20th CPC Central Committee

(Picture: Getty Images)

The coronation of Xi Jinping at the 20th Party Congress was both expected and dramatic. It makes him the most powerful leader of Communist China since Mao. He could be there for another 10 years at least.

Does this make him the most powerful world leader? For the moment, let’s pass over the hyperbole and superlatives. The outcome of the Congress marks his extraordinary influence on world events — Russia’s fortunes in the war in Ukraine, security and global co-operation through the UN and its agencies, nuclear proliferation, growing tensions across the Pacific and in Africa, the challenge of climate change.