My latest for @TheSpectator on the CCP’s 100th anniversary:
Xi Jinping praised the historical inevitability of China’s national rejuvenation, neglecting to point out that the abject state from which the nation had to ‘rejuvenate,’ was self-imposed by Mao.
spectatorworld.com/topic/chinese-…
Xi Jinping praised the historical inevitability of China’s national rejuvenation, neglecting to point out that the abject state from which the nation had to ‘rejuvenate,’ was self-imposed by Mao.
spectatorworld.com/topic/chinese-…
To date there has been no moral reckoning of Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ by the CCP, which continues to primarily blame natural disasters for the famine in official party history.
It wasn’t until the party gave up on its central planning and collectivist fantasies that the
It wasn’t until the party gave up on its central planning and collectivist fantasies that the
Chinese people were able to lift themselves out of the poverty for which the CCP was responsible in the first place.
And then came the laughable claim in Xi’s speech that China does not ‘carry aggressive or hegemonic traits in its genes’ and has never ‘bullied, oppressed, or
And then came the laughable claim in Xi’s speech that China does not ‘carry aggressive or hegemonic traits in its genes’ and has never ‘bullied, oppressed, or
subjugated the people of any other country’.
Vietnam’s history is littered with bouts of Chinese invasion, occupation and retaliation since ancient times, culminating in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. Ask any local Vietnamese about war and they think China, not the US.
Vietnam’s history is littered with bouts of Chinese invasion, occupation and retaliation since ancient times, culminating in the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979. Ask any local Vietnamese about war and they think China, not the US.
Xi’s speech was edited in the official English translation to tone down graphic aggressiveness. 
After 100 years, what does the CCP, with more than 91 million members, have to show for it?
Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms & China ascended to the WTO in 2001 after the West had spent decades trying to get the CCP to play by the rules of the international world order.
Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms & China ascended to the WTO in 2001 after the West had spent decades trying to get the CCP to play by the rules of the international world order.
The opposite happened — the CCP eroded the world order from inside. China could have taken advantage of Western gullibility for longer, coasting for a few more decades as it played the long and quiet game, enriching itself at the expense of the West while keeping its ambitions
for global domination shrouded in secrecy.
But the party’s increasing insecurity about its grip on power led China to turn inward and ultimately, with the rise of Xi Jinping who purged corruption in the politburo to preserve loyalists and removed presidential term limits,
But the party’s increasing insecurity about its grip on power led China to turn inward and ultimately, with the rise of Xi Jinping who purged corruption in the politburo to preserve loyalists and removed presidential term limits,
it fell back to a personality cult not seen since Mao.
Steadily in the last few years and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, China has turned the world against it.
Steadily in the last few years and particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic, China has turned the world against it.
After a century of existence, the CCP has made a strategic mistake and played its hand too early, revealing the game and the true nature of the party.
How will we respond in the next?
How will we respond in the next?
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