Saturday
IF Xi really has been deposed, then here is my two-beer mini diagnosis.
Yes, it was primarily the terrible mess that the economy is in – and has been for many years. But there are other factors. Xi’s zero-covid lockdowns were destroying an already terminally weakened economy.
Xi was ruling as an emperor and that was widely resented within the elite.
What does it mean with regard to the new alliance with Russia? That, I suspect, was the tipping point. I would not expect a wholesale abandonment of that, but I would expect a more nuanced, middle of the road, approach. China does NOT want to lose its U.S. export market. They have enough of an economic problem without that.
If this is so, then it is a big win for the crazed U.S. neocons.
They will claim to have faced down China and seen off Xi Jinping.
Excuse any typos. I broke my spectacles!
Two other things: it was also done now in order to clear the decks before the conference to elect the leader on 16th October. It was supposed to be a shoo-in for Xi. It was never going to be that.
I stress, that as of this moment, this is still an unconfirmed story.