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Chinese Leader Xi Jinping Sets Himself Up for Possible Assassination
by kwang Friday, Mar 2 2018, 1:53am
international / prose / post

The new emperor of China, Xi Jinping, has established himself as an absolute ruler/autocrat, notwithstanding that after the Mao Zedong fiasco of the cultural revolution and all the associated destruction, destabilisation, regression and horror, later leaders Deng Xiaoping implemented a safeguard in the Chinese communist party, and that WAS that no president could rule for more than ten years, after which the party would elect another leader.

Supreme Leader Xi Jinping

Xi’s eradication of this formality/law was not easy, and credit must be given to a shrewd and power hungry leader with astute political skills. However, an old adage applies, “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” though other weaknesses also become evident for autocratic supreme leaders.

Consider for instance that governments with numerous power-sharing and decision-making entities are NOT liable to major disruption if a president/leader dies suddenly or is assassinated. This does not apply to totalitarian states and autocratic rulers that possess absolute power.

The usual pattern is that powerful leaders are surrounded by sycophants or ‘yes men’ that only tell the leader what they want to hear to gain favour, as advisers and officials know their tenuous positions would be threatened if they openly opposed their emperor/leader -- this situation particularly applies to China which has a cultural disposition to autocratic rule and court kow-towing; sycophants usually plot and machinate behind the scenes to serve their own, not the nation’s, interests which does not imply they would secretly oppose their leader, as gaining favour elevates their status and position which allows for further abuse and corruption, all to the State’s great expense in the long term, which as history notes, kept China weak for centuries subjecting it to huge foreign interference and slaughter by smaller, more powerful enemies -- the horrors committed by the Japanese in Nanjing immediately come to mind.

And so we are easily able to appreciate the weaknesses associated with absolute rule, after all, how easy was it for the USA to destroy Iraq and Libya and murder their respective absolute rulers, which illegal actions plunged both nations into utter ruin and proxy rule to this day.

Indeed, there is great wisdom in establishing real and functional democratic parliaments/governments where power is DISTRIBUTED, as nations are then able to cope with any serious disruptions easily. Readers would note that the more power is centralised the less effective a nation becomes at dealing with crises as has been proven by the USA which now has an executive that effectively mimics absolute rule, though secretly. I refer to the Katrina fiasco and more recent problems such as gulf oil spills and other environmental disasters, notwithstanding a critically failing national infrastructure. Indeed, centralised power/rule comes at a very high price for nations and citizens.

I should add that a more recent example is the trashing of net neutrality by minority corporate interests in the USA, you see, dealing with very few powerful entities allows bribery and corruption to run rampant. But back to Xi and his newly earned vulnerability.

China’s enemies now see exploitable weaknesses where none previously existed, though more time needs to elapse before China begins to inevitably unravel, as clearly no single person is smarter than a group or groups of experts in various fields that are allowed to speak freely; we also should note the idiocy of Soviet genetics and depleted food production/famine due to a single ignorant (of DNA) person who had earned Stalin’s favour. It could also be argued that it was centralised totalitarian rule which weakened and eventually destroyed the Soviet Union -- a lesson learned well, until recently, by China, which nation’s meteoric rise to economic super power status in a few decades is unprecedented. Though tragically for China, Xi has unknowingly put an end to that trend, though no-one could convince him why.

Now faced with a kow-towing Chinese communist party and an emperor/ruler, China’s outstanding achievements are now threatened, as Xi was NOT responsible for China’s successes and current standing in the world, though his input has been beneficial to date.

Now consider that a one-headed dragon is far easier to kill than a seven headed dragon. Xi now offers China’s enemies a simple way to disrupt the nation, and consider today that world changing events could happen in an instant, time and stability are of the essence today.

Russia realises this and has spent a great deal of research, time and development creating effective counter-measures to defend against competitor USA -- I refer specifically to America’s cowardly but effective pre-emptive strike strategy, which the USA now views as standard military fare.

However, China, due to its focus on economic matters, has fallen behind in effective offensive and defensive weapons development and yet the obvious military threat from the USA warranted much earlier action, notwithstanding that China is now frenetically playing catch-up as US aircraft carrier fleets intrude in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

Now consider the range of modern sniper rifles and their deadly accuracy, trained Chinese expatriots could easily penetrate national security and drop Xi any time they choose, the man must make appearances and move around within his own nation, though the antics of Saddam, with body doubles and ever-changing vehicles/routes and residences makes for some mirth though of course these are the very real problems that autocratic rulers face.

So I would end this piece with an adage, “be careful what you wish for,” but I would rather wish Xi the best of Chinese luck as his personal luck has just run out.