2012 Sensational Shapers - Xi Jinping

Last time on Sensational Shapers we profiled Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front in France. This time we move east to Xi Jinping, the vice-president of China and the presumptive heir to Hu Jintao, China's General Secretary and President. Because of China's increasingly important role in the world, Xi Jinping is a Sensational Shaper of 2012.

While Xi Jinping is open about market reforms and takes a sharp stance against corruption he is not a figure likely to toss the baby out with the bathwater. In other words, he is staunchly a Chinese Communist. China has growing fears about an Arab Spring occurring in the Middle Kingdom and does not want a repeat of 1989's Tiananmen Square. It is for this reason that Xi Jinping has targeted universities for indoctrination of the Chinese way.

According to the Telegraph Xi Jinping is strongly encouraging universities to maintain a social harmony. This is to ensure that the burgeoning and increasingly more politically astute middle class of China to keep from dissenting. So Xi Jinping sees that Chinese Universities are places to ensure that Chinese men and women get the proper training to maintain the status quo in China. He has also encouraged university officials to monitor lectures by the young teachers in these universities to ensure that no disharmonious words are spoken.

China's recent clampdown on social media networks has proved their jittery stance in 2011-2012. The fear is that more and more riots and protests over official corruption will teeter the public sentiment against the ruling party. Anger and unrest simmers inside of China at a time when American sentiment is becoming ever more perturbed at Chinese power. It could be that China has two fights on its hand this year as Xi Jinping takes control - one with internal forces and a possible dawn of a new cold war with America. While the latter is probably a drastic exaggeration of the tensions between the two nations, the scarce resources that both countries are competing for could spark something akin to a cold war. And if the Republican primaries become more populous in nature than they already are, China will be someone that the candidates are likely to rhetorically whip with as much glee and adulations as President Obama.

For these reasons alone, Xi Jinping would be a Sensational Shaper in 2012. But, the continuing influence of China is being felt all over the world as Chinese businesses are beginning to do more business in the emerging markets from Latin America to Africa and to the Middle East. As the Middle Kingdom once again assumes its post as a major player in world economics, Xi Jinping could be a major figure in what some analysts are calling the dawn of the Asian Century. This firmly cements Xi Jinping as a Sensational Shaper of 2012.