THE RED EMPEROR
How ruthless & powerful Xi became even bigger threat to the world than Putin as he looks to seize Taiwan
Facing multiple crises at home, experts warn a dangerous Xi may invade Taiwan if he 'feels his power slipping'
THE quiet, often smiling Xi Jinping may look harmless - but experts have long warned his eyes are set on world domination.
Under his dictatorship, he has committed gross human rights abuses against Uyghurs, strangled freedom in Hong Kong and now looks poised to seize Taiwan.
11
11
11
11
Xi, 70, who has ruled over 1.4billion people since 2013, has been described by analysts as "the most authoritarian leader since Chairman Mao".
He has spent over a decade consolidating his grip on China and fighting off any internal threats to his authority.
At the rubber-stamp elections in March, 2023 - Xi secured a record-breaking third term as no candidate stood against him.
And his rule of the Chinese population has been no less merciless.
read more on china
He has bitterly cracked down on dissent, arrested thousands of his critics and employs an army-sized workforce to feed his country a steaming pile of propaganda.
In Xinjiang province, rights group say China has imprisoned more than a million Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in so-called "re-education" camps - a policy the US and others have branded "genocide".
Critics argue that "Emperor Xi" seeks to maintain a persona of a man of the people, a kindly patriarch and poverty-fighting hero - but behind the scenes he is a ruthless and stone-hearted leader.
Last year, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Vladimir Putin was “not even close” to how dangerous Xi is.
Most read in The Sun
"He’s a different creature,” he explained. "Putin has no illusions about his capacity to dominate the world."
But for Xi, "he wants to own you....he believes he's going to dominate the world," Pompeo warned.
A PATH TO POWER
Born in 1953, Xi was the son of revolutionary communist Xi Zhongxun, one of the founding fathers of the party and its former vice-premiere.
However, his climb to the top of of elite politics was not all plain sailing.
The strongman was forced to rise from the ashes of his family's disgrace after his father was arrested by the Community Party in 1962 after a deeply paranoid Chairman Mao ordered a purge of all his potential rivals.
Xi's half-sister was later persecuted to death, according to official accounts, during the "Cultural Revelation" that began in 1966 when millions of citizens were branded enemies of the state.
However, a defiant and determined Xi joined the Communist Party in 1974 and slowly clawed his way through the ranks to eventually sit on the throne of China.
And with no clear heir in sight or no one daring enough to challenge his iron-fist rule - he looks set to stay.
But crises at home lie ahead as Xi faces down an economic slump, an ageing population after decades of the devastating one-child policy and increasingly grim relations with the US over Taiwan that is setting China on a collision course with the West.
With even the slightest sense his power could be slipping, analysts believe the 70-year-old ruler looks set to become a true global menace.
In need of a distraction and with tensions across the Taiwan Strait threatening to reach boiling point, experts told The Sun that Xi could be backed into a corner and feel forced to blitz Taiwan.
By US intelligence estimates, Xi has ordered China's military to be ready to annex Taiwan by 2027 - the 100th anniversary of Chairman Chaos' creation of the communist Red Army.
TAIWAN CRISIS
Yesterday, the world watched as Lai Ching-te - who China sees as a "troublemaker" separatist - won Taiwan's presidential election - a result likely to infuriate Beijing.
Lai's Democratic Progressive party (DPP), which rejects China's territorial claims to the island, secured a third term and their win will now set the new trajectory of relations with China.
What is now at stake is the peace and stability of the self-governing island of 24 million people after China chillingly warned Taiwanese voters ahead of the the election that the choice was between a "war and peace".
China watchers have long feared Xi is waiting for the right moment to lurch across the South China Sea and submit the small island nation to the will of the People’s Republic.
He regards Taiwan as part of its territory - and has promised to take it by force if necessary.
Taiwan insists it is an independent nation after splitting from mainland China amid civil war in 1949.
For years now, the world has watched anxiously as China ramped up its military drills and menacing provocations towards Taiwan and the US responded by increasing commitments to its faraway ally.
This week, Beijing told Washington at a failed military summit to stop “manipulating” and “hyping-up” the crisis and "stop arming Taiwan".
China declared that they will never give up their claim to the island, while the said it would "never back down" on the issue.
In Xi’s chilling New Year address he stated that Taiwan’s “reunification” with the “motherland” is a “historical inevitability”.
Observers believe Beijing may try to "strangle" the island using a blockade - while others suggest it will launch a large-scale military landing on Taiwan's "red beaches".
One small "mistake" could propel the world terrifyingly close to the edge of global catastrophe, a retired British Army general warned.
Sir Richard Barrons, former head of Joint Forces Command, said something as simple as a "misunderstanding", one ship sunk or one jet downed could be the trigger to a deceleration of war.
Sir Barron argued that Xi may be forced to act if it feels "provoked" - or a "swell" of public opinion pushes him into a corner.
"We want to avoid a situation where the government of China feels it has to act because the swell of public opinion is saying, ‘you must act’," General Barrons told The Sun.
"Or if it feels provoked by the West or the US. We need to avoid a point where the government of China feels it has to act for its own survival.
Xi may also choose to act if China "suddenly feels that Taiwan is a free shot, and that it could secure ‘reunion’ because Taiwan can’t resist, and the rest of the world will not respond".
But the former army boss said hina will "without a doubt" be closely watching the Ukraine war – and be learning that “success isn’t guaranteed”.
Beyond Russia, he said: “If there were to be escalation from the current crisis in Gaza, both of those things would be indicators to China about whether it could or couldn’t get away with a surprise invasion of Taiwan."
Kerry Brown, a professor of Chinese Studies at King's College London, previously told The Sun: “Now is a really treacherous moment.
"We’ve got a new kind of geopolitics.
"If the Israel-Gaza conflict is long term and with the Ukraine war - all of these things are big distractions.
"The West is weaker. Nato is not as strong as it once was and they’re constantly trying to make sure local conflicts don't escalate and flare into regional and global ones."
In a chilling warning, he said: "But I tell you, China and Taiwan, that's the one that could bring the whole damn global system to a shuddering halt.
"It will make all of these other conflicts look like a picnic party on a Sunday afternoon."
He argued the West needs to be aware that a conflict between Taiwan and China could "decimate the global economy and the existing security architecture in the Asia Pacific".
"It would pretty much be World War 3," Prof Brown said.
A fact far more likely if the US does not abandon its ally, forcing it head-on into a full-scale war with China.
Such an event could become one of the most enduring, devastating and consequential conflicts of the 21st century.
11
11
11
11
Xi's crumbling economy
The outlook is looking bleak for China's £15trillion economy this year as mountains of debt, stalled growth, unemployment and a rapidly ageing population plague the world's second-largest economy.
Some of this downturn is due in part to Xi himself and his relentless crackdown on the private sector which scared off foreign investment.
And Xi may consider invading Taiwan if the leader believes "his power is seriously diminishing", Ashok Swain, professor of peace and security at Uppsala University, said.
He told The Sun: "The real concern for war doesn't hinge on who wins the Taiwanese election, but rather on the performance of the Chinese economy.
"For the first time, Xi Jinping has openly acknowledged difficulties in the Chinese economy.
"The legitimacy of both the Chinese Communist Party and Xi himself largely derives from economic success.
"A serious economic downturn could compel Xi to safeguard his rule by attacking Taiwan.
"It's not the Taiwanese election outcome but China's economic performance that could dictate Xi's decision to attack Taiwan."
Ruby Osman, senior China researcher at the Tony Blair Institute of Change, agreed that Xi's "legitimacy rests on being able to deliver better and better living standards".
"And already that's started to slip," she told The Sun.
For China, Taiwan is the "prize that has evaded all leaders of the PRC so far", Osman said.
"The million-dollar question is whether legacy building comes into this."
"I think there is a personal sense of Xi wanting to be the one who oversees the reunification.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
"As much as the Chinese state are passionate about 'reunification', they also know that invasion will come at such a huge cost to their own people."
If Xi believes his tyrannical rule is threatened from within the Chinese Communist Party, it's feared he may choose to start the war - and be the one to secure the blood-stained "prize".
11
11
11
Topics