Winter is knocking early on China’s door, in tune with the country’s once-in-five years political season that gets under way on October 18. Officially, it is still autumn, but the first snowfalls have already blanketed some parts of north and northwest China. Residents of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang — a vast and inhospitable region of imposing high mountains and deserts — woke up to witness a thick blanket of snow in early August. Though Xinjiang’s brilliant scenery and great history should draw battle-hardened adventure tourists, many, for right reasons, have resisted its formidable charms.
The vast and desolate region is also an abode of international terror groups. Militants from organisations such as East Turkestan Islamic Movement have found in its remote valleys and unreachable ravines ideal sanctuaries.
But the Chinese cannot leave this region alone. Xinjiang is China’s gateway to South and Central Asia. The famous Wakhan corridor in the province also links China with Afghanistan. Consequently, Xinjiang is at the heart of China’s outreach to Eurasia. Trans-continental trains from China’s coastline, heading to Duisburg, Rotterdam, Madrid and now London have to channel through the area’s harsh landscape.
Given its unique geography, it is conceivable that one day, the main artery of the “steel silk road”, passing through Xinjiang, will be networked with radials into Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and perhaps India. Temperatures have also plummeted in cities such as Lanzhou, the capital of neighbouring Gansu province. Though “poor” in terms of living standards, Gansu is fabulously wealthy when it comes to heritage and culture.
The late autumn chill brought in by heavy downpours and strong winds has also sneaked into Beijing. The break-in weather blended perfectly with the impending changes in the top echelons of the Chinese leadership. On October 18, in the imposing Great Hall of the People, the most important members of the political elite belonging to the Communist Party of China (CPC) will gather for the once-in-five years Party Congress. Apart from President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Keqiang, induction of five new leaders is expected in the apex seven-member Standing Committee of the 25-member Politburo.
The conference is expected to cement President Xi’s political legacy. Already set apart as a “core leader” in the tradition of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, there is anticipation that President Xi will deliver a blueprint for the future to achieve China’s top strategic goals.
The 19th Party Congress will be cognizant of two important benchmarks. It will keep in mind that by 2021 — the 100th year of the formation of the CPC — China should become a poverty-free “moderately prosperous society”. By 2049, the centenary of the formation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), it has to emerge as an advanced socialist nation.
Chinese dream
President Xi has already explained the CPC’s vision succinctly. “We have set the goals of completing the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects by the centenary of the CPC in 2021 and building China into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, and harmonious by the centenary of the PRC in 2049 so as to realise the Chinese dream of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” he had said during a discussion with workers in 2013.
By spring, when the harsh winter is gone, some of the decisions taken at the Great Hall of the People will be cast in stone when the March session of the National People’s Congress, China’s Parliament, begins.
(Atul Aneja works for The Hindu and is based in Beijing)
