By Bond Robertson 
China used National Day Friday of the week to commemorate the region. The territory is Taiwan, the island to which the fleeing Nationalists fled when they lost the civil war against Mao Zedong’s communists 72 years ago. On Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, waves of Chinese Air Force planes descended toward the Taiwan border. A total of 130 aircraft took part in this open provocation, which may also have been an exercise in a future invasion of the island with a population of approximately 25 million. Because China declares in every loud way that democratic Taiwan belongs to them, and that it is only right and reasonable to take what belongs to them without asking anyone’s permission.
In this case, this means war. Against Taiwan, obviously. But it is also likely against the United States, Taiwan’s historical Cold War ally, which can barely watch as democratic Taiwan is devoured by the increasingly authoritarian – and increasingly on the frontiers of authoritarian rule – China, ruled by President and Party leader Xi Jinping.
With so much at stake, And with an increasingly worrying development in China, what is the Xi Jinping project? One of them is an aggressive and expanding foreign policy which has been named in English as “Wolf Warrior Diplomacy”, after a Chinese action movie called Wolf Warrior LL, with a bamboo-like hero, someone shoots before he asks. This foreign policy reorientation reflects a nationalist populist trend that Xi appears to be cultivating at home.
confrontation with china
This is the couple With yet another populist campaign, with a sting against the wealthy, those who abused China’s own state capitalism to enrich themselves in what is now suddenly inappropriate. A campaign began last year to regulate the largest and richest technology companies in China, which is said to have led to a loss of stock market values of one trillion dollars. Meanwhile, debt-laden real estate firm Evergrande is perilously close to bankruptcy, while authorities allow it to fry in their fat — in a sort of public hiatus — as a picture of how things will play out when you get too greedy.
fight greed It has to do with the fact that the differences in communist China are as striking as they are in the bastion of capitalism, the United States. Because also in China, one percent of the population behaves with 30 percent of the values in society. These are numbers that are easy to strike a political coin at, something that Xi seems to want to do. But it does not stop here. Xi’s campaign is also about cultural conservatism, with the article stating that children are only allowed to play three hours a week. This abortion must be strictly regulated because the nation, after generations of one-child policies, now – for natural causes – needs more children. Male pop and television stars are no longer allowed to have feminine or androgynous traits, otherwise they will play roles that cultivate masculinity and patriotism. And of course, let’s not forget the brutal suppression of Uyghur Muslims in the northwest, and the crushing of democracy in Hong Kong. Because behind it all, we hear the gospel about Xi Jinping’s ideas, which will be imprinted on children from the age of six, and all the way through.
More desperate than ever
And we don’t know lice in the hallway? Yes we did. “The Party leads everything,” Xi said, as the Communist Party celebrated its 100th anniversary with a major blow this summer. And both episodic aggressive foreign policy, bloated patriotism, toughening dictatorship, and indoctrination – yes, brainwashing – we learn about from the founder of communist China, Chairman Mao. And yes, there is clearly a Maoist light that we are seeing. But how “light” or “heavy” is?
Well, of course not Xi threw on the boat 40 years of adventurous growth after the privatization of the economy by the great reformer Deng Xiaoping. But the economy is now showing lower growth than before, growth is just over 2%, which is lower than at any time in the past 40 years. So nothing like a new cultural revolution can be imagined. But a round of ideological puritanism, with the growing cult of personality XI, we already see features.
In a year it will be Party conference again. Xi was chosen after all sun signs for the third five-year term. It is a radical violation of the rule of only two terms, which Deng introduced, specifically to prevent the leader from gaining too much power – and dictatorship -. Xi wants to rise above this, in an effort to create a strict ideological program, governed by carefully appointed new men and women. In communist language we are facing a “purification”. It doesn’t look pretty. And neither is he.