His reputation for command and control of the economy is magisterial and unchallenged, but he has given almost no clue as to what he thinks of other government policies. He has remained dour and almost silent, visibly chafing with impatience to come into his inheritance, but offering no hint of what difference he would make when he does.

Having dominated East and Southeast Asia for all but the last two centuries of the past two millennia, China is chafing at the current US led regional order of sovereign states, in which even the smallest enjoys the same rights, privileges, and protection as the largest. Modern China has benefited enormously from this arrangement nonetheless, there is keen resentment that the Chinese civilization state s vast achievements over several thousand years offer China no special status.