Commentary
Mainland China’s “new civil war” was not resolved with the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Party Congress, which ended on Oct. 22. It just began its move to a new and globally significant phase.
China’s return to Maoism, mass suppression, and—as a tool of suppression—starvation, and internal focus moved into a major new phase with the reelection of Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping. Still, it was a close-run thing for him.
Xi was purging senior security officials up to, and into, the start of the Congress, and delayed the release of damning economic officials until after the event in order not to cast shadows on his final seizure of power….