Is President and Supreme Leader Xi Jinping on his way out?
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 6:30 pm
- Venue
- SOAS Main Building
- Room
- RB01
- Event type
- Seminar
About this event
In this seminar, Dr Willy Lam will focus on Xi Jinping's relations with the People's Liberation Army (PLA) top brass (there is speculation that his proteges there have been removed so that Xi becomes isolated) and Xi's relations with fellow princelings and party elders.
Dr Lam will also examine the "party core's" dubious economic policies, especially focussing on the Soviet-style industrial policy. He will also talk about the impact of Trump's tariffs offensive on the position of Xi Jinping. He claims that Xi's hard power projection in the Taiwan Straits, Japan Sea, South China Sea and even Australia may be counterproductive.
What is the impact of China's millenia-long political DNA on present-day CCP politics, including the future of Xi Jinping? Will Xi Jinping be able to snatch a fourth-year term in 2027 so that he will rule until 2032?
About the speaker
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, U.S.; and a Ph.D. in economics from Wuhan University, China.
He is a Senior Fellow with the Jamestown Foundation, Washington D.C. and a research fellow with the Center of Asian Research at the University of Victoria, B.C. Dr Lam was a professor of Chinese political economy at the International Akita University in Japan from 2004 to 2007; he taught Chinese politics, history and foreign affairs at the Chinese U of Hong Kong from 2007 to 2022.
Prior to that, 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 ten books about elite Chinese politics, including two books on Xi Jinping. His From Confucius to Xi Jinping: the DNA of Chinese politics was published by Routledge in April 2025.
Dr Lam is working on his third book about Xi Jinping, which is expected to be published in mid-2026.
This event will be chaired by Professor Steve Tsang (Director, SOAS China Institute).
Registration
This event is open to the public and free to attend, however registration is required.
This seminar is taking place on campus and will not be recorded or live-streamed.
Organiser
Contact
Email: sci@soas.ac.uk
Photo credit: Alejandro Luego via Unsplash
