Xi Xinping has been the architect of China’s advance onto the world stage while simultaneously breaking free of Clown World’s subversion, but it appears that Clown World hasn’t given up on taking control of China yet.
CCP politics is getting wild… So for months rumors and whispers have swirled that Xi Jinping has lost control of the party to Zhang Youxia and the party elders. Xi Jinping supposedly has lost control to Zhang Youxia and the party elders. But this isn’t a simple case of one faction overpowering another. Even within the ranks of the party elders, there are competing priorities for what China’s next phase should look like. Some want to save the regime from collapse. Others want to push for political reforms. Some focus on reviving the economy. And there are those who want absolute control just to survive this life and death struggle.
Youxia has supposedly gambled everything to take down Xi Jinping. For a few weeks, the political center in Beijing appeared deadlocked. Xi Jinping disappeared, and then resisted change. Zhang Youxia, backed by military force, demanded it, and the party elders were caught in the middle trying to maintain a fragile balance. Then, in the last week or so, Xi Jinping suddenly re-emerged in public with greater visibility. He scored a minor win when Beijing announced that he would appear at the September 3rd World War II Victory Day parade. Whether he will inspect the troops or simply give a speech remains unclear.
Meanwhile, Zhang Youxia has been steadily expanding his grip. Miao Hua, one of Xi Jinping’s most trusted generals, was officially removed. Zhang has started moving into the Navy and the Air Force to root out Xi’s remaining loyalists. All the signs and rumors pointing to Xi Jinping’s loss of power reached a new phrase yesterday when Xi Jinping himself made an announcement on behalf of the party. In effect, he confirmed his own decline. After not announcing Politburo meeting minutes in May, the CCP made a single terse announcement at the end of June, saying the meeting was to review “regulations on the work of the Central Party Decision Making and Consolidation Body.
This body basically assumes the very role that Xi Jinping once held in making decisions. Meaning Xi is no longer the highest authority in the CCP. He now has a boss, and that boss is this new decision-making body. This new body isn’t just for advice. It controls the full chain of power from policy formation to execution. In fact, in effect, it is now the de facto highest governing body of the CCP.
Xi has strong support from Putin, but that may not be enough. Remember, the Hu Jintao faction never saw Xi coming, and if these reports are to be considered credible – which may or may not be the case, they may be pure Clown World wishful thinking – then it appears that Xi has not been able to set up a succession plan to continue what have been his generally successful policies.
China’s economic turmoils can hardly be laid at his door, as they are the inevitable result of the credit boom that began long before Xi came to power, and indeed, they are the result of the pro-Western faction within the CCP that is susceptible to the same corrupt blandishments that have bought the interests of politicians around the world from Australia to Zambia.
In any event, the next transitions of power in China and Russia will set the stage for the shape of the coming world order, so it is no surprise that various global factions are interests around the world are actively involved in attempting to influence those processes. And the unexpected ascendances of both Xi and Putin demonstrate that the next leaders may well be men that are not yet on the media’s radar.