The most significant upcoming event in the coming months will not be the election of the new Tory Prime Minster but the Chinese Communists Party Congress in November. Here Xi Jinping will stamp his authority on China, not as the President but as the new Mao. It seems like any self-respecting authoritarian; he wants the job for life. This week’s live-fire military exercises around Taiwan were all because of an 82-year-old woman from the US who dropped into Taiwan for a chat. What is wrong with Ji, is he trying to bring the Wolf Warrior from the screen to Taiwan Straits and show the Chinese people he is a badass that cannot be messed with. For a country that does not have a free press selling CCP’s political narrative is simple. What is baffling is that numerous US officials and senators have visited Taiwan, all of which went off without any fuss.
Maybe his zero covid strategies are getting up people’s noses, Chinese-developed vaccine is not as effective as those developed in the west, growth is stalling, the possibility of a recession is on the horizon, the property sector is crashing requiring state bailouts and let us not forget the persecution of the Uyghurs. So, the only thing left to impress the CCP and the Chinese people is to show his machismo nationalism by getting grumpy at the female octogenarian, Nancy Pelosi. Come on, I thought the Chinese respected and showed deference to the elderly. The irony is that the US one-China policy is intact, meaning Taiwan will be united with the mainland, only through peaceful negotiations.
So, Ji’s strategy is known as the “dead cat strategy”, used by politicians when they want to divert the public gaze from other critical issues.
China has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is preparing to screw Russia on the price of oil as Europe particularly Germany reduces their dependence on their neighbouring Petro state. Now the CCP is throwing its toys out of the pram by announcing that it is reviewing its international cooperation on nuclear proliferation and it is pulling out of the COP26 agreement with the US to cooperate on the climate crisis. Xi’s decision to walk away from climate cooperation hurts the developing world infinitely more than the US and that defies any geopolitical logic for a country that craves global influence and respect.
To be fair Nancy Pelosi’s visit was not exactly necessary and she was advised by the State Dept to give it a miss. Having said that, Xi’s reaction was way over the top with possibly more to come, when he could declare that the Taiwan Straits are no longer international waters. How the international community would react to that, makes me a bit nervous.
Let us know what you think in the comments below 👇
Suneil Sharma
August 7th, 2022
The Gob 
Leave a Reply