China Erupts

 

Woke up this morning to things suddenly happening in China. Protests everywhere, demanding the resignation of Xi Jinping, even the end of the CCP. I hear Wuhan, Chongqing, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Urumqi, reputedly every university and college campus. This has happened so suddenly there is no telling how far it might spread. My favourite China experts are saying this is the most significant event since Tiananmen Square. I’d say, if it persists, it is more significant than Tiananmen Square. That, after all, had a single focus, and so was easier to suppress. Yet it came very close to overthrowing the government.

As always, the tipping point, if it comes, will be when security forces refuse to fight, and join the crowds. Then the mandate of heaven has passed.

Imagine if the Chinese government falls; and the Iranian government; and the Russian government; in rapid succession. It would be as epochal as the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Revolutions are usually a bad idea. Any government is better than none. Yet some succeed. There was no reign of terror after the fall of the Berlin Wall; The Philippines transitioned well from Marcos, and Portugal from Caetano; America turned out okay. 

There is hope here for a better world.