A celebrated army soprano and national household name, Peng helped burnish Xi’s public profile as he reached the pinnacle of power in late 2012. Before Xi Jinping became China’s most powerful leader in decades, he was better known across the country as “Peng Liyuan’s husband.
Before Xi, now 73 years old, came to power, Peng, a decade younger, spent many years touring every major military command with her performance troupe, attending the banquets and getting to know the brass, Wilder said.
Bush’s National Security Council, told me that Peng’s actual work sits inside the military’s cadre-evaluation apparatus that vets those who run China’s military. “Xi relies very much on her Rolodex,” Wilder said. In other words, he said, Peng had the map of who was loyal and who wasn’t. “She’s really the most powerful woman in China since Jiang Qing,” Wilder said.
Here’s what may lie behind it. Dennis Wilder, a former senior CIA China analyst who served on President George W. “He doesn’t have a PLA Rolodex like she has. The logic, as Wilder laid out, is straightforward. The Mao suit Xi wore to a White House state dinner carried a message.The state dinner was a chance for billionaire business leaders to mingle with Chinese dignitaries, top U.S. officials and President Trump.In-depth: There is concern in Taiwan that Trump might sacrifice support for the island in return for better relations with Beijing, and Xi sees an opening.Video: Xi came to Washington for three things: predictability, respect and Taiwan
As the two descended the stairs from their plane on Wednesday, Xi reached out, taking her hand as his other gripped the rail. On Friday, while walking the steep granite steps of the National Archives with President Trump and the first lady, Xi and Peng again held hands throughout the climb.
Jiang Qing, Mao Zedong’s wife, led the Gang of Four, a radical faction that used the 1966-1967 Cultural Revolution to persecute perceived enemies and throw China into upheaval. That name carries weight. Half a century later, Jiang is still the reason the Communist Party recoils at any hint of a leader’s spouse wielding power. Even the suggestion that Peng plays a role in military personnel decisions touches a nerve the party would rather not acknowledge exists. That may explain why so little about her actual influence is allowed into public view.
Today, the reflex remains: keep the wives ceremonial, visible but harmless.
