Xi Jinping, whose second wife is famous, has been the President of China since 2012 and has allegedly been implementing ‘Stalin-style purges’, as per Express. Indeed, Xi Jinping has been leading what he has dubbed an ‘anti-corruption’ campaign and has reportedly removed people he deemed his enemies from office.
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However, it seems as though the Chinese President is removing more people from office, which has led experts to worry that Xi Jinping will launch some sort of attack to distract from the issues going on in China. If this were to happen, what country would Xi Jinping attack and who has been going missing lately?
More officials have gone missing under Xi Jinping’s rule
According to Express, officials that the Chinese President considered loyalists have gone missing. This includes Li Shangfu, who served as Defence Minister between March and October this year. Li Shangfu was officially fired in late October but had already disappeared from the public eye in August.
In similar circumstances, Qin Gang, China's ex-Foreign Affairs Ministerdisappeared very early in his mandate, which ended in July 2023, as per Express. Moreover, two officials who were part of the Rocket Forces, which is the military arms controlling nuclear weapons, have recently been removed.
The usual explanation given for the disappearances is the vague ‘health reasons’ with no extra details.
Experts are concerned Xi Jinping will launch an attack
Politico wrote an analysis of the current disappearances and explained that Xi Jinping could launch a ‘full-scale invasion of democratic Taiwan in order to distract from his domestic troubles’.
With such a febrile atmosphere in the celestial capital of Beijing, there are fears that an isolated and paranoid Chairman Xi could miscalculate, provoke armed conflict with one of its weaker neighbors or even launch a full-scale invasion of democratic Taiwan in order to distract from his domestic troubles.
Indeed, there have been reports of aircraft and warships close to the Taiwan Strait, which is considered the border between Taiwan and China.
In November, the Taiwanese Defence Ministry reported that 9 aircraft were spotted crossing the Taiwan Strait in one day, as per Express. Moreover, Chinese warships were seen carrying out ‘joint combat readiness patrols’.
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Sources used:
Express: ‘Fears emerge 'paranoid' Xi Jinping could 'provoke war' as he's rumoured to purge loyalists’
