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Sorry folks this is a long one.
Tourist traffic to the PRC is down roughly 98% year-on-year. Shanghai and Beijing airports noticeably empty of foreigners. China's top three airlines lost a combined $1.73B US in the first six months of CY2023.
Dr. Wang Youqun - a former aide to Wei Jianxing, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, pointed to ten major signals that the CCP regime is at risk.
1. Economic Collapse -- After three years of COVID lock down most people in and out of China were expecting a strong rebound to the economy. It hasn't happened. One major company after another has collapsed or is on the verge of collapse due to debt. The troika of Investment, Consumption, and Import/Export has almost completely stalled; the stock, foreign exchange, and property markets have declined; household, local, and corporate debt has piled up; the wealth gap between rich and poor is widening.
2. Political Black Box -- While claiming to be an extremely effective Democracy (yea, right) the CCP hides decision making from the public. On June 25, Qin Gang, a Central Committee member, state councilor, and newly appointed Foreign Minister "disappeared". With the nation looking for him the CCP said only that he couldn't appear due to "health matters". There was no further information available. (I wouldn't rule out lead poisoning. - LP) One month later the CCP announced that Qin Gang was being dismissed as Foreign Minister. He is still listed as being a member of the Central Committee and a State Councilor. Again, no explanation. This is not the only strange handling of senior party officials.
3. China is like the "Rakshasa Kingdom" -- There is a VERY popular song called "Rakshasa Haishi" based on the story "Rakshasa Sea" written by Qing Dynasty writer Pu Songling. In the story, everything is reversed beauty/ugliness, right/wrong, good/evil. So why is the song so popular? It is because not being able to speak out against what they see in the government people turn to historical allegory to make their point without having the government arrest them.
4. The Corruption Cancer has reached its final stages -- During the eleven year rule of Xi Jinping, more officials have been prosecuted for corruption than under Mao Zedong, Ding Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jiantao COMBINED. Xi has investigated and removed more generals than have died in all conflicts since 1927. No matter what Xi has accomplished, corruption is getting worse and worse.
5. Hong Kong has been destroyed -- The British turned Hong Kong from a poor fishing village to the #3 financial center in the world in 155 years. The CCP has destroyed it in less than thirty. Hong Kong is no longer China's window on the world.
6. Taiwan -- The CCP's Wolf Warrior diplomacy and recent bellicose statements about Taiwan seems to have only made world support for Taiwan stronger.
7. China has no true friend in the world -- The PRC is increasingly excluded from International meetings and summits. Earlier this year Xi said that Putin was his best friend in the world. Given past antipathies between the two countries this should speak volumes.
8. China's Imaginary Enemies exist all over the world -- CCP leaders have long had the mindset that those who are wrong are others and the CCP is always right. When things go wrong they always blame "hostile forces at home and abroad". The country that has helped the Chinese people the most, the USA, is listed as the #1 hostile force just ahead of perennial boogeyman, Japan.
9. Public Grievances are boiling and people are awakening -- Last year in a stunning display of opposition to the CCP, a young man, Ping Zhizhou, hung a banner on an overpass in Beijing reading, "Food not PRC tests. Freedom not lock downs. Reforms not Cultural Revolution. Elections not leaders. Dignity not lies. Citizens not slaves." Worker strikes and public protests against the government have increased sharply.
10. The COVID pandemic is still lingering in China -- It is believed that COVID has hit China harder than any other nation when scaled for population. The people blame the CCP for bungling the whole thing.
Note that this list is from an INSIDER near the top of the CCP. I think we should take seriously his findings. I doubt the CCP will.
WWG1WGA
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)