BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, once a relative unknown in the Communist Party's top leadership, has used two powerful tools to boost his profile: a highly public anti-corruption campaign and a classy wife, opera singer Peng Liyuan.

A Chinese scholar who I have known for long, and who is not his biggest fan, acknowledges Xi's popularity with an air of resignation: "If we were to hold a democratic election now, he may very well win with 90% of the vote."

Power couple

When Xi was elected to China's top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee in October 2007, many people did not know the man who had enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. I remember a Chinese friend telling me in astonishment that he was merely "the husband of Peng." He was nowhere near as well known or as popular as his wife.

One of the things that surprised me the most, after returning to China after a five year hiatus, was that Xi's popularity was now on par with, or maybe has surpassed Peng's. A quick poll of seven men and women around me, all in their 20s and 30s, found that five were supporters of Xi. "I love Xi dada and Peng mama. This is the way a president should be," a 28-year-old woman said without hesitation.

Peng is a source of pride to the Chinese president. She made her national debut on state-run China Central Television as singer with the People's Liberation Army in the early 1980s on the country's most watched TV show, the Spring Festival celebrations.

She mesmerized the public with her talent and beauty, and became a national star. Since Xi became president in 2013, she has changed the image of a Chinese first lady.

In early April, when she accompanied Xi on his trip to Florida to meet U.S. President Donald Trump, she toured a local art school with Trump's wife, Melania. Peng was every bit as graceful as the U.S. first lady, a former model, something Chinese seemed proud of.

Another secret to Xi's popularity is his high-profile fight against corruption. One man in his 30s credited Xi with "removing senior officials saddled with graft, and correcting the culture within the party."

That positive image is at odds with the one often portrayed in Japan: that Chinese people are frustrated with Xi for stripping political opponents of power in the name of anti-corruption and suppressing freedom of speech.

Xi does have many critics of his heavy-handed approach, but many are part of the establishment -- intellectuals and party elites who benefit from globalization. They do not represent the majority of citizens.

Riding the wave

This phenomenon is not unique to China. In his own way, Xi reflects the populist wave that has swept the world in the past few years. Just as Trump and Brexit have won the support of a disillusioned public, many in China applaud Xi as the powerful leader who takes on the corrupt establishment without fear.

Perhaps surprisingly, this could be good for ties between China and Japan. If Xi succeeds with his domestic agenda, he is likely to have more latitude to make deals with Japan, without losing public support.

The issue is that nobody is quite sure what Xi actually wants to do with his political capital. That makes his popularity both an opportunity and a risk for those who deal with him. If Xi pursues a "China first" nationalist line a la Trump, relations between China and Japan may deteriorate and the global political picture darken further.