This much we know:
For the first time since coming to power, Xi’s high-tech censorship machine is meeting with intense resistance from millions of Chinese Internet users. The controlocracy is being put to the test. Most likely, though, the outbreak itself will be used to justify even more surveillance and control of the population.
But what happens next with the virus and the blowback from it inside China is unknown.
Would Xi risk war to try to get nationalistic impulses to rally around the flag in the face of mounting problems and criticism?
The black swan virus could unleash unintended consequences inside China even if the virus itself is ultimately contained short of disaster. Maybe the military would rally around the flag in the face of popular unrest--but decide Xi is not the one to hold the banner.
And if the CCP under Emperor Xi does get overthrown, the winners of the purge will find that Xi has conveniently set up a network of prisons in distant Xinjiang where the purged communists can be reeducated for productive lives.
Not that I'll shed many tears for the thugs who run China:
China is the world champion at “cancel culture.” Only when the communist tyranny cancels you, you aren’t just hounded off social media or pushed out of a job in the media or academia. You are literally canceled; executed, organ harvested, imprisoned, forced into a concentration camp, or excluded from all social participation in society.
The targets of this despotism are primarily religious believers — Falun Gong, Uyghur Muslims, and, most recently, Christians. Millions have been victimized by these vicious pogroms in recent years — and it appears the persecution has just gotten started.
There must be no loyalties above Emperor Xi, First of His Name.
Xi demanded the power to achieve all tasks in China. He may get all the responsibility for failure, too. Karma would be a bitch.
