Just how secure can Xi Jinping feel on the throne of China?
That's not the biggest sign of confidence I've ever seen:
This summer, the CCP launched a major purge into China’s domestic security apparatus. According to the officials conducting the purge, they are looking to create a security apparatus that is “absolutely loyal, absolutely pure, and absolutely reliable.” Chen Yixin, the key Xi ally conducting the operation, compared the event to the 1942-1945 Yan’an Rectification Movement, a similar purge that strengthened Mao Zedong’s political control. Similar to Mao’s, Xi’s purge is political. If the CCP is faced with popular political dissent, Xi wants to guarantee that domestic security forces are faithful. ... Perennially concerned about his personal grip on power, Xi sees 2022 as a fragile moment. Anxious that public demonstrations might arise to contest his unprecedented third term, Xi is pre-emptively cracking down. The political purification of China’s domestic security apparatus, the suppression of Hong Kong and elevation of Shenzhen, and the sinification of ethnic minorities are all meant to ensure Xi a peaceful rise as he becomes China’s most powerful leader in decades.
I just wonder if it matters that Xi has loyal leaders in charge of internal security.
For localized events like Tienanmen Square, such loyalty will make sure nobody balks at gunning down resistance. If Inner Mongolians, Tibetans, Uighurs, or Hong Kongers are seen to contest Xi's rule, the internal security people will likely shoot to kill.
But if the Han majority shows signs of contesting Xi's rule, there aren't enough internal security people to handle a snowballing resistance if it isn't quickly quelled.
And if that happens, survival instincts will kick in for all those absolutely loyal, pure, and reliable underlings who will calculate their actions not on whether it helps Xi but on whether they think Xi will win.
Still, I worry about what Xi might do with this CCP outlook on power made specific to his own continued power,
China is a large country that in many ways is a continent. Once fissures appear, no amount of presumed loyalty, purity, and reliability might be enough once a real crisis starts.
