08-09-2018, 11:57 PM
*** 10-Aug-18 World View -- Discontent with China's president Xi Jinping continues during 'trade war'
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
****
**** Discontent with China's president Xi Jinping continues during 'trade war'
****
![[Image: g180809b.jpg]](http://Media.GenerationalDynamics.com/ww2010/g180809b.jpg)
China is banning the new film Christopher Robin because it contains the character Winnie the Pooh, which many Chinese online compare to Xi Jinping (Getty)
Although Xi Jinping's power and credibility as president of China and
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not seem to be threatened,
there are signs of growing discontent, especially under pressure from
the trade war initiated by the Trump administration.
Since coming to power in 2013, Xi Jinping has claimed to be champion
of the fight against corruption in the CCP. In line with that fight,
Xi has purged many government officials whom he accused of corruption,
but it always turned out that the purged officials were not his
strongest supporters, and the people who replaced them were all
indebted to Xi in some way. Thus the first against corruption for the
last five years has appeared more and more to be a purge of Xi's
political enemies -- which would itself be the ultimate form of
corruption.
Public or online criticism of Xi is de facto a crime in China.
A few months ago I told the story of how I repeatedly challenged a
Chinese troll to make even the tiniest criticism of Xi, or even to
reference an article in Chinese media that has any criticism of Xi.
He kept changing the subject, and finally I pointed out that if he did
criticize Xi, then he would be thrown into a pit, hung by his thumbs,
and have his tongue removed with a pair of pliers. Well, I was being
overly dramatic, but he would certainly have risked going to jail.
So it certainly was remarkable in February of this year when a leading
commentator and a prominent businessman openly criticized Xi for his
plan to amend the constitution so that he could run independent. Li
Datong, a former editor for the state-run China Youth Daily, wrote:
"If there are no term limits on a country's highest leader, then we
are returning to an imperial regime. My generation has lived through
Mao. That era is over. How can we possibly go back to it?"
Indeed, I've written about country after country to describe what
happens when a leader refuses to relinquish power. We've seen this in
Cambodia, Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Congo, and Burundi, among others. In
each case, the leader becomes increasing authoritarian and oppressive,
ordering peaceful opposition protesters to be slaughtered, tortured,
raped or jailed, and shutting down media outlets including newspapers
and the internet.
Xi's claim to be the hero in fighting corruption has been badly
tarnished by various scandals. The piece of bad news this summer was
the discovery that a pharmaceutical company with deep connections to
Xi has been responsible for producing substandard vaccines for
diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and had faked data for its
rabies vaccine. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese children nationwide
have been given the faulty vaccines. Many in China are blaming Xi for
this. Japan Times and CBS News and South China Morning Post (6-Mar)
****
**** Backlash from the US-China 'trade war'
****
The greatest damage to Xi's reputation is the "trade war" initiated by
the Trump administration. The US announced tariffs on Chinese
products, and China retaliated with tariffs on American products. The
tit for tat war has shocked many Chinese, and has triggered a major
debate in China over Xi's foreign and domestic policy leadership.
Many in China are questioning Xi's absolute refusal to negotiate with
the Americans to get the trade dispute resolved. Many fear that China
will indeed be much worse off from a full-blown trade war. There's a
deeper criticism that Xi is violating the advice of 1980s leader Deng
Xiaoping: "Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs
calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining
a low profile; and never claim leadership." Since taking power,
instead of taking this advice, Xi has been increasingly arrogant
foreign policy, and his policies are seen as costly, ambitious, risky
and confrontational.
Many Chinese also fear that China has become too dependent on stealing
American intellectual property, and can't develop it on their own.
Xi has reacted by ordering an extensive campaign to "enhance
patriotism" among intellectuals. A key aspect is to strengthen the
“political guidance” of intellectuals and bring their “ideological and
political identification” in line with goals set out by the party and
the nation.
There are even demands that CCP members get back to basics and study
Karl Marx's 1848 Communist Manifesto, the tract that predicted the
triumph of Socialism. Socialism has a 100% failure rate, and China
abandoned any pretense of following the dictates of Communist
Manifesto decades ago. Even Cuba in the last few years has almost
completely abandoned the Marx's tenets, since it was becoming clear
that Socialism was destroying Cuba, as it has destroyed every other
place it's been tried. Most CCP members, it turns out, have never
read the Communist Manifesto, so ordering them to read it now appears
to be a true move of desperation. South China Morning Post and Inside Story (Australia) and Radio Free Asia and South China Morning Post
****
**** China uses increasing violence to suppress criticism
****
As in the other countries I've listed, Cambodia, Syria, Cameroon, and
so forth, the CCP in China is using violence increasingly to control
groups that don't adhere closely to the party line. Whether it's
violent reprisals in Tibet, or violent education camps in Xinjiang, or
the threat of a massive military invasion of Taiwan, the CCP have
shown themselves increasingly willing to use jailings, torture, rape
and murder to force the public into the CCP line.
Two major events occurred about 25 years ago that are the driving
forces in CCP policy today. One was the Tiananmen Square massacre on
June 4, 1989, where Chinese security thugs killed thousands of
peacefully demonstrating college students. The other event was the
collapse, in 1991, of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party.
These events put the members of the Chinese Communist Party into a
high state of anxiety, from which they've never come down. They use
massive violence by police thugs to suppress any protests before they
can get out of hand and threaten the existence of the CCP.
Self-preservation of the CCP is more important the China itself.
China's government used to report the number of "mass incidents that
occurred each year. These are incidents where dozens of Chinese
citizens protest or get into fistfights with one another. There were
hundreds of these protests each year in the 1990s. The number of mass
incidents kept growing exponentially, reaching 100,000 in the year
2008. If even one of these "mass incidents" occurred in the United
States, it would be international news, but China has hundreds of them
every day.
After 2008, China stopped reporting them. However, there was one
activist named Lu Yuyu who compiled the data himself from news
reports, and published it online. He was arrested and is currently
serving time in jail.
China's CCP is frightened of social instability that could lead to a
revolution that would threaten the CCP. China's history is filled
with huge, massive internal rebellions (civil wars), the most recent
of which were the White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1805), the Taiping
Rebellion (1850-64) and Mao's Communist Revolution (1934-49). China
is now overdue for a new massive civil war, and CCP officials fear
that any small anti-government protest could spiral into a new
rebellion and revolution. Guardian (London) and China Change (6-Jul-2016) and Foreign Affairs (3-Oct-2016) and Hong Kong Free Press
Related Articles
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, China, Xi Jinping,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP,
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto, Cuba,
Cambodia, Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Congo, Burundi,
Deng Xiaoping, Tiananmen Square,
Soviet Communist Party, mass incidents, Lu Yuyu,
White Lotus Rebellion, Taiping Rebellion, Communist Revolution
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com
- Discontent with China's president Xi Jinping continues during 'trade war'
- Backlash from the US-China 'trade war'
- China uses increasing violence to suppress criticism
****
**** Discontent with China's president Xi Jinping continues during 'trade war'
****
China is banning the new film Christopher Robin because it contains the character Winnie the Pooh, which many Chinese online compare to Xi Jinping (Getty)
Although Xi Jinping's power and credibility as president of China and
the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not seem to be threatened,
there are signs of growing discontent, especially under pressure from
the trade war initiated by the Trump administration.
Since coming to power in 2013, Xi Jinping has claimed to be champion
of the fight against corruption in the CCP. In line with that fight,
Xi has purged many government officials whom he accused of corruption,
but it always turned out that the purged officials were not his
strongest supporters, and the people who replaced them were all
indebted to Xi in some way. Thus the first against corruption for the
last five years has appeared more and more to be a purge of Xi's
political enemies -- which would itself be the ultimate form of
corruption.
Public or online criticism of Xi is de facto a crime in China.
A few months ago I told the story of how I repeatedly challenged a
Chinese troll to make even the tiniest criticism of Xi, or even to
reference an article in Chinese media that has any criticism of Xi.
He kept changing the subject, and finally I pointed out that if he did
criticize Xi, then he would be thrown into a pit, hung by his thumbs,
and have his tongue removed with a pair of pliers. Well, I was being
overly dramatic, but he would certainly have risked going to jail.
So it certainly was remarkable in February of this year when a leading
commentator and a prominent businessman openly criticized Xi for his
plan to amend the constitution so that he could run independent. Li
Datong, a former editor for the state-run China Youth Daily, wrote:
"If there are no term limits on a country's highest leader, then we
are returning to an imperial regime. My generation has lived through
Mao. That era is over. How can we possibly go back to it?"
Indeed, I've written about country after country to describe what
happens when a leader refuses to relinquish power. We've seen this in
Cambodia, Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Congo, and Burundi, among others. In
each case, the leader becomes increasing authoritarian and oppressive,
ordering peaceful opposition protesters to be slaughtered, tortured,
raped or jailed, and shutting down media outlets including newspapers
and the internet.
Xi's claim to be the hero in fighting corruption has been badly
tarnished by various scandals. The piece of bad news this summer was
the discovery that a pharmaceutical company with deep connections to
Xi has been responsible for producing substandard vaccines for
diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough, and had faked data for its
rabies vaccine. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese children nationwide
have been given the faulty vaccines. Many in China are blaming Xi for
this. Japan Times and CBS News and South China Morning Post (6-Mar)
****
**** Backlash from the US-China 'trade war'
****
The greatest damage to Xi's reputation is the "trade war" initiated by
the Trump administration. The US announced tariffs on Chinese
products, and China retaliated with tariffs on American products. The
tit for tat war has shocked many Chinese, and has triggered a major
debate in China over Xi's foreign and domestic policy leadership.
Many in China are questioning Xi's absolute refusal to negotiate with
the Americans to get the trade dispute resolved. Many fear that China
will indeed be much worse off from a full-blown trade war. There's a
deeper criticism that Xi is violating the advice of 1980s leader Deng
Xiaoping: "Observe calmly; secure our position; cope with affairs
calmly; hide our capacities and bide our time; be good at maintaining
a low profile; and never claim leadership." Since taking power,
instead of taking this advice, Xi has been increasingly arrogant
foreign policy, and his policies are seen as costly, ambitious, risky
and confrontational.
Many Chinese also fear that China has become too dependent on stealing
American intellectual property, and can't develop it on their own.
Xi has reacted by ordering an extensive campaign to "enhance
patriotism" among intellectuals. A key aspect is to strengthen the
“political guidance” of intellectuals and bring their “ideological and
political identification” in line with goals set out by the party and
the nation.
There are even demands that CCP members get back to basics and study
Karl Marx's 1848 Communist Manifesto, the tract that predicted the
triumph of Socialism. Socialism has a 100% failure rate, and China
abandoned any pretense of following the dictates of Communist
Manifesto decades ago. Even Cuba in the last few years has almost
completely abandoned the Marx's tenets, since it was becoming clear
that Socialism was destroying Cuba, as it has destroyed every other
place it's been tried. Most CCP members, it turns out, have never
read the Communist Manifesto, so ordering them to read it now appears
to be a true move of desperation. South China Morning Post and Inside Story (Australia) and Radio Free Asia and South China Morning Post
****
**** China uses increasing violence to suppress criticism
****
As in the other countries I've listed, Cambodia, Syria, Cameroon, and
so forth, the CCP in China is using violence increasingly to control
groups that don't adhere closely to the party line. Whether it's
violent reprisals in Tibet, or violent education camps in Xinjiang, or
the threat of a massive military invasion of Taiwan, the CCP have
shown themselves increasingly willing to use jailings, torture, rape
and murder to force the public into the CCP line.
Two major events occurred about 25 years ago that are the driving
forces in CCP policy today. One was the Tiananmen Square massacre on
June 4, 1989, where Chinese security thugs killed thousands of
peacefully demonstrating college students. The other event was the
collapse, in 1991, of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Communist Party.
These events put the members of the Chinese Communist Party into a
high state of anxiety, from which they've never come down. They use
massive violence by police thugs to suppress any protests before they
can get out of hand and threaten the existence of the CCP.
Self-preservation of the CCP is more important the China itself.
China's government used to report the number of "mass incidents that
occurred each year. These are incidents where dozens of Chinese
citizens protest or get into fistfights with one another. There were
hundreds of these protests each year in the 1990s. The number of mass
incidents kept growing exponentially, reaching 100,000 in the year
2008. If even one of these "mass incidents" occurred in the United
States, it would be international news, but China has hundreds of them
every day.
After 2008, China stopped reporting them. However, there was one
activist named Lu Yuyu who compiled the data himself from news
reports, and published it online. He was arrested and is currently
serving time in jail.
China's CCP is frightened of social instability that could lead to a
revolution that would threaten the CCP. China's history is filled
with huge, massive internal rebellions (civil wars), the most recent
of which were the White Lotus Rebellion (1796-1805), the Taiping
Rebellion (1850-64) and Mao's Communist Revolution (1934-49). China
is now overdue for a new massive civil war, and CCP officials fear
that any small anti-government protest could spiral into a new
rebellion and revolution. Guardian (London) and China Change (6-Jul-2016) and Foreign Affairs (3-Oct-2016) and Hong Kong Free Press
Related Articles
- China on path to repeat Japan's experience after Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 (05-Apr-2018)
- The Trump-Putin private meeting was almost certainly about China (21-Jul-2018)
- How China would lose a war with the United States (22-Mar-2018)
- 28-Feb-10 News - China faces social unrest disaster (28-Feb-2010)
- China approaches Civil War (16-Jan-2005)
KEYS: Generational Dynamics, China, Xi Jinping,
Chinese Communist Party, CCP,
Karl Marx, Communist Manifesto, Cuba,
Cambodia, Syria, Iran, Cameroon, Congo, Burundi,
Deng Xiaoping, Tiananmen Square,
Soviet Communist Party, mass incidents, Lu Yuyu,
White Lotus Rebellion, Taiping Rebellion, Communist Revolution
Permanent web link to this article
Receive daily World View columns by e-mail
Contribute to Generational Dynamics via PayPal
John J. Xenakis
100 Memorial Drive Apt 8-13A
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: 617-864-0010
E-mail: john@GenerationalDynamics.com
Web site: http://www.GenerationalDynamics.com
Forum: http://www.gdxforum.com/forum
Subscribe to World View: http://generationaldynamics.com/subscribe
