Sodden thought - could this be setting the stage for a coup d'etat, wherein the PLA assume full control of the Politburo and the Council of Peoples' Deputies? Military rule of Beijing would be a sure sign of worse things yet to come.
Well, if communist rule is in danger, that can certainly happen. However, I don't think China is in that stage yet.
More conflict brewing:
***
Japan Snubs China on Gas, History Feud Simmers
Japan began allocating rights for gas exploration in a disputed area of the East China Sea on Wednesday, a move likely to rile China at a time when ties are at rock-bottom levels in a dispute over Japan's wartime past.
A senior Chinese official, calling the energy dispute one of the main problems plaguing Sino-Japanese relations, had warned Tokyo a day earlier not to award the test drilling rights and said doing so would "fundamentally change the issue."
Simmering tensions between the two Asian giants over a range of topics, especially what China sees as Japan's failure to own up to wartime atrocities, erupted in China at the weekend, with thousands of people taking part in protests that turned violent.
Some concerns have arisen about a Japanese backlash. In Tokyo on Wednesday, members of a right-wing group shouted slogans at the Chinese embassy, where security has been tightened, and dragged Chinese flags behind two vans, a witness said.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20050413/wl_nm/northasia_dc_6
Good question. I just hope we are prepared for it.