Xi rises to 3rd on world most powerful list
Print Edition
President Xi Jinping is the world’s third most powerful person, according to a new list released by Forbes, underscoring the growing influence of a man who started leading the world’s second-largest economy last year.
Last year’s World’s Most Powerful List published in December ranked Xi ninth. Xi became the Party chief in a once-in-a-decade generational leadership transition last November.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was declared the most powerful person, ahead of his US counterpart Barack Obama, who held the title in 2012.
“Putin has solidified his control over Russia while Obama’s lame duck period has seemingly set in earlier than usual for a two-term president — latest example: the government shutdown mess,” wrote Caroline Howard, a Forbes staff writer.
She also pointed to the White House’s handling of Syria and the leaks of the US National Security Agency’s surveillance programs while describing a “shifting individual power dynamics.”
Obama had been on the top of the list every year since the annual ranking began in 2009, with the exception of 2010, when former Chinese President Hu Jintao, Xi’s predecessor, was No.1.
Forbes said it selected the top 72 people in this year’s list among hundreds of nominees — one for every 100 million worldwide — based on their scope of influence and financial resources relative to their peers.
Other Chinese on the list include Premier Li Keqiang (No. 14), Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing (No. 30), China Investment Corp Chairman Ding Xuedong (No. 36), as well as Terry Gou (No. 48), CEO of Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision, Apple Inc’s biggest assembler in Asia, and Robin Li (No. 61), founder and CEO of Chinese search engine Baidu.
The list also includes religious figures and even drug traffickers, as Forbes said it sought to figure out the true nature of power by comparing them with heads of state and billionaires.
Among the 13 newcomers into this year’s list were Pope Francis (No. 4) and Janet Yellen (No. 72), nominated by Obama as the next leader of the central bank of the world’s largest economy.
Mexican drug lord Joaquin Guzman Loera, who heads the Sinaloa cartel which is responsible for an estimated 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the US via Mexico, was No. 67.
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