The Western narrative is to pit Xi Jinping against Deng Xiaoping

Why is that?

Long story to understand Chinese politics

The orthodox narrative came out of the US state department regarding Xi, is to portray him as the "precedence breaker".

Breaking the rule set by Deng, who they wrongly portrays as an example of a socialist turned capitalist.

First, there were no rules to break.

Deng's politics was famously Machiavellian and pragmatic, there were no rules, the guy didn't even hold the highest office of the state.

Preferring to use political proteges to influence things from behind the curtain.

How is this in anyway a system suitable for China today?

Presidents Jiang and Hu were the transitional period between the Deng era and Xi era.

Xi's 2018 constitutional reform officially ended the political legacy period of Deng.

Which is appropriate, since Deng Xiaoping has been deceased for 20 years by then.

To force Xi to continue Deng era politics is literally asking China of today to follow the system of 1980s China.

Neither realistic nor pragmatic. Ironically very un-Deng Xiaoping.

Two most misused quotes of Deng Xiaoping.

01.) Let some people to get rich first.

02.) Hide your strength, bide your time.

These 2 quotes are used by some to create the illusion of President Xi deviating away from reform and opening up.

This is a ridiculous claim to begin with, since the quotes themselves are misinterpreted.

Deng said, "Let some people in some areas get rich first, then these people must help the poorer people from poorer areas".

The 2nd part of the quote is always left out.

And what does that sound like?

Yes President Xi's policy of target poverty alleviation and common prosperity, which eliminated absolute poverty in China.

The 2nd quote is even more ridiculous when you think about it.

It's the claim that Xi have given up on the "Hide your strength bide your time"

Or keeping a low profile in diplomacy.

First of all, the trade war was started by the US not China.

China's economy is now more than 4 times that of Germany and Japan.

To ask China to keep a low profile, is like asking Yao Ming to hide behind the Japanese basketball player.

It also assumes the US is ldiotic for unable to see China challenging their hegemony by simply existing

The Western narrative on Xi, is just a fantasy cooked up by the US State Department, distributed by "think" tanks and regurgitated by their media.

The aim is to create doubts about President Xi, creating the illusion of a uncertain future.

In reality, President Xi in essence is quite similar to Deng, in that he is reforming the system, albeit to a lesser degree, but his reforms requires more fine tuning.

Xi is creating a political legacy for an entire era, which will last 20 years after he leaves office.

That is until the next era, when the Party needs another major reform.

A great leader will be entrusted with powers and tools to reform the party for that new era.

3 is usually a pattern, from Mao to Deng to Xi, we now see the cyclical and sequential nature of Chinese politics.

Modern China's politics can then be distilled into the idea of "Generational Politics".

One generation after another, building on the works of the predecessors.

Transitional eras separates the eras of Great Leaders that instituted major reforms to fix issues and improve China.

The great leaders creates their own political era that will reverberate for decades after they leave office.

We are witnessing the 3rd of such eras in modern China.