[The Central Committee is the ultimate arbiter of what China does, particularly if the president weakens and loses his way. There must be some in the Central Committee who remember Xi’s inauguration and have concluded that China’s evolution has not gone the way they expected and Xi promised. The Central Committee is usually opaque, as it is now, but if there is opposition developing to Xi, and it is hard to imagine there is not, then release of these documents merely turns a known event into a global event, further showing Xi’s incompetence.]
The man the First Emperor hand-picked as regent for his young heir apparent was the Chief Eunuch, Zhao Gao. When the First Emperor died, despite also being his closest confidant, Zhao Gao had his son, the new emperor, killed.
This kind of thing isn’t even particularly exceptional in the annals of dynastic histories. When Alexander the Great died, his generals killed most of his closest relatives.
Xi Jinping’s direct subordinates are all people he appointed personally. But each of them has his own personal ambitions. And Xi Jinping is said to have been promoted by Jiang Zemin because Jiang perceived him to be lacking in ambition. And yet the first thing Xi did when he became head honcho was to purge Jiang’s men. It’s possible, perhaps even likely, that some of Xi’s hand-picked men are secretly plotting against him, either individually or as part of pick-up ball-style factions. Not for some perceived greater good, or ideological reasons, but because his concentration of power is becoming a threat to them individually and collectively.
Whoever you are, Mr. Zang, you are brilliant.
“It’s tempting to view foreign governments as monoliths. But they are anything but.” True. All power without fear of the Supreme Judge is power with fear of one’s peers. Fearing the Lord is better than fearing one’s co-workers. I saw Good Fellas on AMC tv tonight. Sad story about the empty lives of Mafia members who bet $20,000 on poker every night and feared getting killed every day.