The Australian sinologist Geremie R. Barmé wrote that “autocrats and patriarchs share a fateful dilemma”: Once in power “the countdown to their demise is on.”
Mao Zedong’s long descent into ill health and madness brought China to the brink of civil war. Deng Xiaoping went out peacefully, though the decade before he died was marked by political upheavals, including the Tiananmen Square protests. Now, the Xi Jinping “death watch” has begun.
Of course, the big difference is that today China is at the center of everything.
As it drags on, the Xi “death watch” will become a global spectacle, moving markets, affecting investment flows, and shaping defense priorities. China’s internal risks are now the world’s risks.
