ANALYSIS โ โRed China' is back. The latest 20th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress has made it crystal clear that any hope (if there still had been) for a peaceful, open and reformed China is dead.
Instead Party Chairman (and โleader-for-life') Xi Jinping has now finalized his aggressive bid to consolidate total power in himself.ย
He has also revived a variation of communist Marxist-Leninist ideology as the core of his rule.
How should the West see this?
Kevin Rudd argues in Foreign Affairs that:
[This] meansย foreignersย must set aside the comfortable analytical frameworksย many of themย have used to analyze China for theย last two generations. Most countries, including many in the West, are predisposed to think that when China's leaders speak in ideological terms, it is not to be taken seriously (or that if it is, the ideology purely applies to the party's domestic politics). But that is no longer the case.ย
Xi is a communist ideologue and this ideology matters.
He states that party members are now required toย โgrasp both the worldview and the methodology of Marxism-Leninismโ and apply the โanalytical tools of dialectical and historical materialismโ to understand โthe great challenges of the time.โ
So, for Xi, the old militant revolutionary communist thinking of Mao Zedong's โRed China' is back.
And it's time to dust off the old Cold War thinking and books on Marxism.
Along with this shift, Xi has also officially ended China's so-called โpeaceful rise' and replaced it with China's belligerent drive for global dominance.ย
Some call this a Marxist-Nationalist agenda.
What does this mean in practical geopolitical terms?
Disturbingly, Xiย declared that his administration had โacted with resolve to focus the entire military's attention on preparing for war.โ He said that Beijing had โcoordinated efforts to strengthen military struggle in all directions and domains.โ
As Rudd explains, Xi's vision:
โฆcallsย โnational securityโ theย โfoundation of national rejuvenation.โ And Xi used the report to ingrain his earlier statements about the need for aย โtotal securityโย agenda to ensure that the country has ideological security, political security, economic security, and strategic security. Indeed, it calls forย the โsecuritizationโ of virtually every aspect of society. He alsoย directed the party to applyย thisย concept of total security across all of the party's internal processes. Xi, it seems, is signaling that the CCPย and China's People's Liberation Army must now be readyย to fight a major war. And domestically,ย thatย means keeping the Chineseย people underย even tighterย surveillanceย and control.
And of course this coming war will most likely be over Taiwan.
And it may be coming sooner than we like.
Rudd adds:
[XI] isย preparingย forย China'sย renewedย long-termย struggle againstย the old enemy: the separatists inย Taiwan.
The CCPย was previously hesitant to embrace any kind of public timetable or deadline for retakingย Taiwan. Xi, by contrast, has stated that retaking Taiwan is critical to China's โnational rejuvenationโ and that he aims to complete that rejuvenation by 2049.
All this shows that the Red China threat is now officially back.ย
Except now it has a powerful economy and modern military to force its communist views on the world.
And under Xi, China will be far more willing to risk a major war to do it.ย ALD
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions ofย American Liberty News.
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3 Comments
Rerun Korean War??
Xi is a emperor not a head of a democracy, his time is up, he already stole millions from his country.
Well, the Head Chink has finally shown his true colors. As bad as it is, being stabbed in the face is better than being stabbed in the back.