The Dream of Chinese Democracy
Persistent rumors of a coup in China might herald a distant future free from one-party rule.
Try as the Chinese Communist Party might to quash and debunk them, rumors of a military coup in China persist across social media and in the international press this week.
Speculation, ranging from the truly wild to the merely implausible, has been buzzing since last week when the rumors of a coup in China first began circulating.
“A military coup has overthrown the Chinese government,” went some of the whispers.
“Xi Jinping has been taken into custody,” went others. “People’s Liberation Army general Li Qiaoming has secretly replaced him.”
Of course, those aren’t the only rumors floating around about the Chinese Communist Party.
Its vast police surveillance state, imperialistic intentions towards Taiwan, treatment of ethnic and religious minorities, suppression of the pro-Democracy movement in Hong Kong, and a suspiciously short wait time on organ transplants, have given other world powers plenty of subjects about which to speculate nervously.
The world is witnessing, “peak China,” according to the authors of a new book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China.