Xi Jinping has preserved his position but can he revive reform? In this talk, Dr Willy Lam will examine supreme leader Xi Jinping’s relations with principal stakeholders in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) establishment, including the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) top brass, the spies and security-related cadres, fellow princelings, and party elders. Particular focus will be put on his ties with top generals and admirals, including speculation that his military proteges have been removed by his foes so as to isolate Xi.

Dr Lam will also evaluate the ‘party core’s’ controversial economic policies, especially focussing on the Xi leadership’s emphasis on Soviet-style industrial policy so as to strengthen the high-tech civilian and military sectors. He will also talk about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs offensive on Xi as well as the CCP establishment. The top princeling’s hard power projection in the Taiwan Straits, Japan Sea, South China Sea and even Australia will be discussed. While on the one hand, the ‘systemic competition’ between China and the US will be exacerbated, the possibility that President Trump might strike a ‘big deal’ with Xi will be examined.

Based on the conclusions of Dr Lam’s latest book, From Confucius to Xi Jinping: the DNA of Chinese Politics (Routledge 2025), what is the impact of China’s millennia-long political DNA on present-day CCP politics, including the future of Xi Jinping? Will Xi be able to snatch a fourth-year term in 2027 so that he will rule until 2032? Dr Lam will examine how the teachings of Confucius and the Legalist School (including the ethos of Qinshihuang or Qin the First Emperor) have influenced the thinking of Xi, who is an acknowledged follower of Mao Zedong, the 20th-century Qinshihuang.

Dr Willy Lam has a BA in Liberal Arts from Hong Kong University (HKU), a Master’s in Buddhist Studies (summa cum laude) also from HKU; an MA in Asian Studies from the University of Minnesota, US; and a PhD in economics from Wuhan University, China. He is a Senior Fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, Washington DC and a research fellow with the Center of Asian Research at the University of Victoria, BC. Dr Lam was a professor of Chinese political economy at International Akita University in Japan from 2004 to 2007; he taught Chinese politics, history and foreign affairs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2022. Prior to this, Dr Lam was China editor of the South China Morning Post through the 1990s. He was an accredited foreign correspondent in Beijing from 1986 to 1989. Dr Lam has written 11 books about elite Chinese politics, including two on Xi Jinping. Dr Lam is working on his third book about Xi Jinping, which is expected to be published mid-2026.