The Premier of China is now in the United Kingdom, having only recently visited the United States. He’s crafted his message to the global public in carefully managed public relations campaign - a generous rising world power. Back home he’s promoted his nationalist credentials with some success. But critics also point out that his self-defined image as a consensus builder is contradicted by his grab of institutional power. So is he a child of Mao Zedong or Deng Xiaoping? And can China’s economic aspirations be achieved without political and institutional reforms? The author of “Chinese Politics in the Era of Xi Jinping: Renaissance, Reform, or Retrogression?” takes off those rose-tinted glasses that many have view contemporary China.

Interview conducted by Sharaad Kuttan.

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