Despite his many friends in the White House and on Wall Street, the vice president has shied away from the trade war between the United States and China. Perhaps he is preparing a comeback after China loses the "war". China’s crooks, those who gained from the country’s legal vacuum and are against economic and legislative reforms, are pushing Xi towards a showdown.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – China today has filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against the United States following the decision by US President Donald Trump to impose new tariffs on US$ 200 billion worth of Chinese goods, a step that could cause great economic difficulties to China and cripple its technological development.
The promptness of the complaint – especially since the levies will not kick in until September – shows how delicate and frail China’s situation is. But the frailty is not only economic.
Against the backdrop of the trade war with the United States, another war is taking place, one inside the inner circles of China’s power structure, pitting Wang Qishan, one of the vice-presidents and former head of the anti-corruption commission, against Xi Jinping, as suggested by the article below, by Wei Jingsheng, a well-known Chinese dissident who lives in exile in the United States.
There are other signs of a war at the top. For a past few days, the front page of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s daily, has not carried any news about Xi. As a rule, news about him always top the coverage. To this must be added the rumours that the authorities have ordered the removal of pictures and posters featuring Xi from public places.
It should be added that, according to various witnesses, a couple of days ago, someone dressed in black entered the studio of the unified news broadcast of China Central Television as it was underway. Since then, the titles and the space given to news about Xi have been reduced and simplified.
Many people in China expect a power shuffle within the Party at the expense of Xi himself. As Wei Jingsheng's article suggests, in the trade war Xi has allied himself with crooks that he has always fought, i.e. the people have exploited the lack of laws and regulations in the country to pursue their business interests.
Recently, led by the British media, many foreign media are speculating that Wang Qishan, the famous "firefighting captain", is staying away from the trade war and has disappeared. They also claimed that Wang has the most skill and also the most loyalty to Xi Jinping, and so on. There are also rumours that the United States intends to invite Wang Qishan to replace Liu He in negotiating with the United States. In short, it set off a wave of flattering Wang Qishan.
Is it because Wang Qishan used to convey interest in Wall Street, so his old friends there want to push him back to the peak of power? It is hard to assert, because we can't get the hard evidence which may lead people to bring us to court. However, both Chinese and foreigners believe that because Wang Qishan has many friends in the international financial community, it can affect the decisions of the United States to a certain extent. This is an indisputable fact, especially because half of the staff in the White House of Donald Trump are from Wall Street; thus, this statement is sf-evident.
However, Reuters's statement clearly violated one fact: which is that Wang Qishan is really not that loyal to Emperor Xi Jinping. During the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Wang was beaten by Xi Jinping -- as a scapegoat, he resigned from all positions and only retained the CCP membership. This grievance will not disappear so quickly. It would make himself really low if he came out now as a firefighting captain. This is one of the reasons for his being "missing".
Secondly, it is impossible to put out of the fire even if Wang Qishan came out now. The self-perception of Xi Jinping is at its peak now, and with no intention to reason with the United States. Xi Jinping will continue to entangle himself with the USA and think well of himself for doing so. So Wang Qishan can't make self-proclaimed negotiations. It would be just as shameful as Liu He if Wang Qishan came to negotiate. Why should he make himself uncomfortable? It seems that Wang is still sober minded.
Some time ago, Wang Qishan had talked secretly with many American politicians and businessmen, hoping to know Americans' cards. He was trying to determine if the bottom line of the USA and bottom line of China might be able to meet somewhere. The conclusion for sure was that the gap was too big to be reconciled, so it is better not to pick up this hot potato. Otherwise, it is a small matter to offend Xi Jinping, but it would be terrible if he offended the corrupt officials in China. Yet, this is the shortcoming since the anti-corruption campaign launched by Wang Qishan. His smartest approach now is to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight - when Donald Trump beats up Xi Jinping, it would be Wang's turn to get down the mountain to pick the ripe peaches.
Is Xi Jinping really that stupid to think that he will win the trade war? I don't think he is that stupid to be unable to see this obvious situation. But the public opinion of nationalism in China is pushing at his back, so that he cannot retreat. If he moves forward, he will die. If he moves backward, he will be trampled. So he just as well fights his way forward.
The corrupt officials have fanned up the devilish wind of "great, my aggressive country", for the purpose to prevent Xi Jinping from retreating. Now Xi is tied up with these corrupt officials who have made big money. That is because these corrupt officials and profiteers have no retreat either -- they have become accustomed to earn excessive profits in unfair trade; especially in the lawless political system, when big fish could eat small fish, or even small fish could eat big fish.
The purpose of the United States is fair trade. This requires the reform of the unfair legal system. In the lawless law enforcement in China now it is obviously impossible to guarantee fair trade. The corrupted officials and profiteers united together for the purpose of guaranteeing a lawless political system. So they will not accept real reform. Otherwise, it violates their fundamental interests and may even lead to imprisonment and being killed.
I think many friends are interested to know about how to untie this Gordian knot. The United States has an absolute advantage, so it is impossible for it to surrender. The move to buy US officials and Congressional members has failed, and both political parties unanimously support the trade war. To buy the EU and Japan in an effort to unite together to against the United States has also been embarrassedly rejected. The only remaining approach is to attack American companies in China. This damaging move can only force them to move out of China or return to the United States. The United States will get increased employment while China gets increased unemployment. I question who is really punishing whom. I am really ashamed of Xi Jinping and his mentally retarded advisors.
Now there is only one method left to solve this problem, which is to restart everything after a coup. To reform the legal system with a complete new look, and to achieve fair and normal trade at home and abroad. In this way, everyone will be happy and the trade disputes can be completely resolved, thus to achieve sustainable development.