Free Republic

Perhaps US intelligence has an idea about who is increasingly the real power behind the throne in BeijingXi Jinping effectively vanished in July and the first half of August. Some China watchers speculated that his unexplained absence was a sign he was losing his grip on power. But he has since reappeared and been very visible again. At the end of the month, he visited Tibet, then indulged in a high-profile, backslapping meeting with Vladimir Putin and the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Tianjin. He capped off his busy two weeks with the September 3 military parade in Beijing...

As Beijing rolled out its largest military parade in decades, US President Donald Trump trained his guns at Xi Jinping, accusing the Chinese President of “conspiring” with Russia and North Korea against the United States. "Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong Un, as you conspire against The United States of America," Trump said in a post directed at Xi on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday. His remarks coincided with a show of force in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2. Xi was joined by Russian President Vladimir...