Voices Devdutt Pattanaik Sheila Kumar Ravi Shankar Anand Neelakantan Gaurav Yadav Swami Sukhabodhananda MAGAZINE NEW DELHI november 1 2026 SUNDAY PAGES 12 Buffet People Wellness Books Food Art & Culture Entertainment Emperor’s War Lab Will Xi Jinping’s dream of Chinese global dominance trigger an India-China military confrontation in a wider technological arms race? By RAVI SHANKAR “Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake up the world.” N apoleon’s prophecy is about two centuries old. It is coming true now. The man who has awakened it is Xi Jinping, China’s paramount leader (Zuigao Lingdaorén), General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party , and its powerful nationalist president since 2013. His Made in China 2025 policy seeks to realise the Chinese dream of world hegemony His instrument is . self-reliance: reducing China’s dependence on foreign technology to become a fully capable military manufacturing power in its own right. That technology is what Napoleon warned the world about. The warning is echoed by a capable officer who knows the India-China frontier not as a line on a map but as a difficult, unforgiving stretch of mountains where weather, altitude, distance and the smallest movement of troops can have strategic consequences. On October 22, the Director General of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Shatrujeet Kapur, warned: “To face China through traditional ways would be tough now. Because China has invested heavily in the modernisation of its forces and has moved ahead. But through drones, small nations can fight bigger nations, as we have seen in the Russia-Ukraine and Iran-US conflicts. Russia is sacrificing 10,000-15,000 soldiers every month.” The warning came a week before the Fifth Plenum. Past sessions have reaffirmed Xi’s position as the “core” of the Party The abolition of presidential term limits in . 2018 opened the way for him to remain in power indefinitely His personal philoso. phy known as “Xi Jinping Thought”, is being elevated to a status comparable to , that of Mao Zedong’s ideological doctrine. Xi has unleashed a wave of purges of Party and government officials for “moral corruption”—a term often used as shorthand for those perceived as insufficiently loyal to the 73-year-old strongman. Estimates from the Asia Society Policy Institute suggest that only two of the 44 military members of the Central Committee in 2022 have survived the purge. The number is the same in the seven-member Central Military Commission, which oversees China’s armed forces: only Xi Jinping and one other general remain. What does this mean for Xi, China, India and the world? Following the Fifth Plenum, Xi is set to consolidate his position as the most powerful man in China and one of the most powerful leaders in the world. Under his leadership, China has taken a quantum leap across the vectors that determine global power: technology , military strength, the economy diplomacy and development. , , SUPERTECH SULTAN: Xi, to strengthen China’s position against its top competitor United States, has ordered investments in billions in advanced chips, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy China now dominates global supplies of several . industrial, automotive, and defence micro controllers, and is integrating AI into national security and pursuing its “ Plus” strategy to expand Chinese software , AI across Global South markets. Turn to page 2 AI generated CORE IDEOLOGY A blend of communism, nationalism and state control Absolute party leadership A strong, centralised state Cultural nationalism and civilisational pride Economic development as a source of legitimacy Social stability over individual freedoms POWER STYLE Control, discipline, loyalty Micro-management of key issues STRATEGIC GOALS A stronger, more influential China by 2049 (the centenary of the PRC) National rejuvenation and great power status Relentless anti-corruption campaigns to eliminate rivals and enforce loyalty Reshaping party, military and state institutions A more self-reliant economy and technological leadership A world-class military, including greater power in the Indo-Pacific Elevating personal loyalty over collective leadership A new global order that reduces US dominance Willingness to remove senior officials, including top military leaders A larger voice for the Global South through platforms like BRICS GLOBAL VISION Democratisation of international relations Xi promotes a multipolar world where Western influence declines and more countries, especially in the Global South, support a China-led order—a modern expression of the tianxia idea China Brics partners Growing influence Traditional US allies