Will China’s strongman become even stronger? What the 20th Party Congress means for the United States

The eyes of the world will turn to Beijing as the 20th Party Congress gets underway this October. Taking place at a perilous time in global affairs – amid a war in Europe, tensions in the Taiwan Strait, and widespread economic unease – the personnel and policy outcomes of this Congress will have an inescapable impact on the United States and the world. General Secretary Xi Jinping will play the most critical role in shaping these outcomes, and his protégés who will be appointed to top leadership positions will subsequently carry out Xi’s domestic and foreign agenda for the next five years. How will this Party Congress differ from past Congresses?

On Tuesday, October 4, the John L. Thornton China Center at Brookings hosted a fireside conversation between New York Times Columnist Thomas L. Friedman and Brookings Senior Fellow Cheng Li, who together unpacked how the upcoming changes in the upper echelons of the Chinese leadership will affect China’s domestic development and role on the global stage.

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