A lot has been written about Xi Jinping Thought - how it’s enshrinement in the constitution elevated him to the level of Mao and Deng. Once ensconced, Xi then recalled the banished Confucius to the pantheon. He has taken something from all these legends but makes the compound his own.

Xi’s Thought produced the following functional results:

Bolster the United Front Work Department
Implement the Belt and Road Initiative
Bolster military and technological capabilities
Tame and Dominate the internet

Xi has delivered all of the above in spades. The fourth one i wouldn’t have thought possible, but he’s done it.

You’ve then gotta ask, what’s he up to with that?

The answer is not complicated:

Reinforce Totalitarianism as a viable ‘System of Government’ - for the world - in the “new era”.

This is where Xi levitates himself above his predecessors to a whole new pantheon. China, for all its faults, was not imperialistic. Not by European and American standards. One of its founding principles was to oppose hegemony. Take this quote from Deng Xiaoping made at a UN speech in 1974.

“A superpower is an imperialist country which everywhere subjects other countries to its aggression, interference, control, subversion or plunder and strives for world hegemony. China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one."

And here’s the kicker:

“If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialist, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.” (my bold)

Xi, rightly or wrongly, has released China from those localized constraints. I’d argue it was inevitable, despite what Deng vowed. You’re not gonna become the world’s factory, an economic giant, then not want to wield that clout to influence the world you operate in. Especially if it has been/is trying to influence you. Especially if the Internet x Covid is accelerating globalization at breakneck speed.

By scrapping the term limit system, Xi sees himself as the chosen one to deliver the New Era of Totalitarianism with Chinese Characteristics.

The 'princeling' son of revolutionary hero, Xi Zhongxun (Propaganda Minister), he is driven by historic injustice and a vision of international control. He believes it is for the common good.
He commands a vast army of global influencers (United Front Work Dept) taking advantage of open societies to “mix sand”.

This 'Silent Invasion' (Clive Hamilton), like the Data War, is 'the War you didn't quite realize you were in'. But its raging just beneath the surface. It involves scientists, politicians, media, academic think-tanks, business people, societal organizations. All the experts.

Many of those experts currently yelling at us to 'Listen to the Experts', are willing instruments of this Thought invasion.

These Experts (some/a lot) are corrupted soldiers of the CCP.

The scale of it is staggering - think Manchurian Candidate multiplied by a million. Having gathered force over decades - the influencers are activating now. Covid, whatever its origins, is the rocket-boost for this Great Leap Forward into the New Era.

It is Xi Jinping Thought/the Party Vision playing out in real time before our eyes.

Dan Andrews is a living case study of how this works.