China is using Jiang Zemin centenary to signal political continuity

Placing Jiang in the uninterrupted development of the Communist Party and the country reinforces a political narrative of succession without rupture

Xi’s speech placed Jiang squarely within the history of the party, describing him as the core of the party’s third-generation central leadership and as a principal founder of the important notion of the “Three Represents”. It also highlighted Jiang’s contributions to reform and opening up, socialist modernisation and China’s development.

The formulation matters. It presents Jiang neither as an isolated political figure nor simply as the representative of a bygone era. Instead, it places him within a chain of political leadership and national development stretching across several decades.

Those developments fundamentally altered China’s relationship with the global economy. China moved from being a relatively marginal participant in international production and trade to becoming an increasingly central manufacturing and trading power.