A longtime Embassy contact and former close friend of Politburo Standing Committee Member and Vice President Xi Jinping has shared with PolOff his first-hand knowledge of Xi’s family background, upbringing, early adulthood, and political career, as well as his impressions and assessments of Xi’s personality and political views. The information was acquired in multiple conversations over a two-year period 2007-2009. The contact is an American citizen of Chinese descent who teaches political science at a U.S. university (protect), hereafter referred to as “the professor.”
The professor said that he and others found dramatically different ways to “survive” the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution. While the professor and his closest circle of friends descended into the pursuit of romantic relationships, drink, movies and Western literature as a release from the hardships of the time, Xi Jinping, by contrast “chose to survive by becoming redder than the red.”
Unlike those in the social circles the professor ran in, Xi Jinping could not talk about women and movies and did not drink or do drugs. Xi was considered of only average intelligence, the professor said, and not as smart as the professor’s peer group. Women thought Xi was “boring.” The professor never felt completely relaxed around Xi, who seemed extremely “driven.” Nevertheless, despite Xi’s lack of popularity in the conventional sense and his “cold and calculating” demeanor in these early years, the professor said, Xi was “not cold-hearted.” He was still considered a “good guy” in other ways. Xi was outwardly friendly, “always knew the answers” to questions, and would “always take care of you.” The professor surmised that Xi’s newfound popularity today, which the professor found surprising, must stem in part from Xi’s being “generous and loyal.” Xi also does not care at all about money and is not corrupt, the professor stated. Xi can afford to be incorruptible, the professor wryly noted, given that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. It is likely that Xi could, however, be “corrupted by power.”
Xi is favorably disposed toward the United States, the professor maintained, and would want to maintain good relations with Washington. The professor said Xi has “no ambition” to “confront” the United States. During Xi’s visit to Washington, D.C., in 1987, he told the professor that he had no strong impressions of the United States. Although Xi was not particularly impressed by the United States, he had nothing bad to say about it either. Xi took a detached stance, as if observing from a distance, viewing what he saw as just a normal part of life, not strange, the professor said.
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