A licensed in Finance is Xi Jinping's strengths in the commercial war he wears with Donald Trump. He is also the one who obtained a 90-day armistice from a Republican president who, until now, had refused to suspend his tariff campaign against China.
In short, if the Chinese leader Xi Jinping had an economic guardian angel, his name would be He Lifeng, writes Le Point ..
According to the “Wall Street Journal”, the second deputy prime minister of the State Council of the People's Republic of China received a simple mission from his president: not to bend before the requirements of America. Unlike the previous commercial wars between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump, this time China feels better prepared.
And, although He Lifeng, a finance graduate, does not have the experience of his predecessor, he still has an asset that Xi Jinping, like many authoritarian leaders, values a lot: he thinks like his boss. The two men met in the mid-1980s, when they were both officials of the Chinese Communist Party (CCC) in Xiamen, a port city in the southeast of the country. He has held several functions in the province of Fujian for over twenty years, when the future Chinese leader climbed the hierarchy there.
He Lifeng joined the Central Committee of the PCC in 2007. In June 2014, he was appointed deputy secretary of the party within the National Development and Reform Commission. Then he patiently advanced in the hierarchy. From 2017 to 2023, he drove this body, which is responsible for China's economic planning.
In 2022, he was elected a member of the Political Bureau, which is already one of the most powerful people in the country.
On March 12, 2023, he was appointed deputy prime minister of the State Council and became responsible for economic and financial affairs. This offered access to a series of crucial levers and strengthened the party's supervision on the financial sector.
Since then, Xi Jinping (whose wedding would have participated) entrusted the task of strengthening the Chinese economy in the context of customs tariffs and export controls imposed by the West and the United States. His predecessor was considered “too kind” by a Chinese official who participated in some discussions between the US and China during Trump's first presidency.
“Like the Chinese President, he is a member of the Communist Party for a long time, he is part of the nucleus of the important persons within the party who also holds administrative functions,” writes “La Tribune” Emmanuel Véron, doctor in geography and specialist in contemporary China.
“He is a man of the same generation as Xi Jinping; they both lived the moments of Maoist and post-Maoist,” he adds. He Lifeng defends Beijing industrial policy and has shown little inclination to reduce overproduction. For the man described as the economic “Tsar” of his country, China's exports of quality products at low prices represent an asset to the world, rather than a problem.
At 70 years old and forty years of experience, he seems indispensable to Xi Jinping.
Received for a long time as a rigid bureaucrat, diplomats and investors interviewed by Reuters now see in it a regained trust and a more pronounced pragmatism. In Geneva, in May, he managed to obtain a 90 -day commercial armistice, a sign that China has no intention of giving up the United States.
But is this alleged change a farce? He agreed with US requirements to resume Chinese rare land exports. However, since then, he insisted, postponing the approval of the export licenses for these minerals, which are essential for the manufacture of modern cars and other products.
One thing is certain: the commercial arsenal that China built under HE Lifeng, including the control of key materials used in microchips, cars and F-35 aircraft, gives it the ability to cause real damage to the United States. Also, China has reduced its technological gap to the West, exceeding many strategic sectors, such as renewable energy, robotics and artificial intelligence. These progress makes the country less vulnerable to US sanctions than in the past.
The sign that China's approach is playing in favor of Xi Jinping, He Lifeng, who was described as a man with a severe and reserved face by American leaders who interacted with him, displayed a positive smile while talking about the “constructive” atmosphere of Geneva discussions. A sign that he is about to fulfill his mission? (material made with the support of Rador Radio Romania)
