The Red Throne Topples
July 12, 2023

In what should come as no surprise, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Xi Jinping, has been ousted by the military following a tear of strife across Shina society.

Through the great gambit of the Taiwan War and its complete defeat, Xi and the now-former government embarrassed Shina to an inexcusable, unforgiveable extent. Nationalist fervor across WeChat demanded action. Open protests demanded Xi's resignation. Initially, Xi thought he could overcome the dissent, but the military stepped in with a coup led by Zhang Youxia.

Zhang’s coup was swift and bloodless, at least on the surface. Xi was detained, his inner circle dissolved, and the Politburo suspended. Martial law was declared in multiple provinces, and PLA units now patrol key urban centers under the banner of “National Reorganization.”

Three main factions now compete for power in the vacuum left in place of Xi's ousting. The Nationalists, which would simply mean the military would maintain power, the Liberals, which see liberalizing Shina and modernizing the nation as the path forward, and the New Left, which is a movement that is critical of the economic reforms instituted under Deng Xiaoping.

The state is fractured. The next phase of the East Asian conflict will not be determined in Taipei or Tokio, but in Beijing.