Published on July 18, 2019.
This article republishes a chapter first posted on July 19, 2018, introducing the Sankei Shimbun’s report on unusual developments within China’s Xi Jinping regime.
It discusses the halt in the spread of Xi’s personality cult after the abolition of presidential term limits, the blow dealt to the regime by the U.S.-China trade war, and the possibility of intra-party criticism ahead of the Beidaihe meeting, thereby examining the instability of the Chinese Communist Party regime.

July 18, 2019.
It is probably no exaggeration to say that, at present, the only newspaper that can report the truth about the actual state of China is the Sankei Shimbun.
The following is a chapter I posted on July 19, 2018.
It is from page 6 of the July 17 Sankei Shimbun.
It is probably no exaggeration to say that, at present, the only newspaper that can report the truth about the actual state of China is the Sankei Shimbun.
Anomaly in China’s Xi Regime.
Trade War, the Greatest Trial.
Sudden Stop to the Personality Cult.
“Beijing = Fujimoto Kinya.” An “anomaly” is occurring around China’s Xi Jinping regime.
Since this spring, when the term limits of the state president were abolished and long-term rule became possible, the accelerating movement toward a personality cult has been checked.
It appears to be the result of the impact of the trade issue, regarded as the regime’s greatest blunder since its launch in 2012.
There is also a possibility that criticism of the Xi leadership will concentrate at the important Chinese Communist Party meeting, the “Beidaihe meeting,” which begins as early as early August.
President Xi, who is also general secretary of the party, abolished the term limits for the state president at the National People’s Congress, equivalent to parliament, in March, opening the way for him to remain in office beyond 2023.
After that, Xi’s political thought, which was written into the party constitution and the national constitution, was promoted for study in schools and workplaces nationwide, and Xi’s works became bestsellers.
A personality cult not seen since Mao Zedong, the founding father of the nation, has been spreading, with “Quotations from Chairman Xi” also circulating in some places.
Amid this, last week, a document spread online stating that the police had instructed that photographs and posters of Xi, both indoors and outdoors, be removed immediately.
At the beginning of this month, a video was released of a woman in Shanghai splashing ink on a photograph of Xi while shouting, “Oppose dictatorship and tyranny.”
Also, at the government-affiliated research institution, the Academy of Social Sciences in Shaanxi Province, a project to study Xi’s thought and achievements was recently suddenly canceled.
It is said that similar cases are occurring one after another.
Changes in the tone of the People’s Daily, the party organ, have also been pointed out.
Hong Kong media have paid attention to the fact that recently there are sometimes days when Xi’s name is not included in the front-page headlines.
They are interested in the background, saying that it is “not merely a coincidence.”
The Hong Kong English-language newspaper South China Morning Post cited a Shanghai political scientist who said, “The legitimacy of Chinese Communist Party rule has been supported by a strong economy.
If an economic crisis occurs because of the trade war, that legitimacy will certainly be shaken,” and sees Xi, who has been unable to take effective measures against the U.S.-China trade friction, as having “entered the greatest trial since the regime was established.”
Within the party, there are also factions that bitterly resent the revival of the personality cult, which had been sealed away in order not to repeat the tragedy of the Cultural Revolution.
These are the groups of former president Jiang Zemin and former president Hu Jintao.
Are this series of “anomalies” a defensive measure by the Xi faction to avoid criticism, or a counterattack by the anti-Xi faction?
It is giving rise to various speculations.
In August, the customary Beidaihe meeting, attended by the top party leadership and elders to coordinate personnel affairs and policy, will be held.
Rumors are already circulating that elders have submitted a letter to the party criticizing Xi’s personality cult and other matters.
＊Even after reading this article, will the young man calling himself a philosopher, whom the Asahi Shimbun and NHK deliberately invited from Germany in order to have him criticize Abe, still dismiss President Trump without a second thought?
If he is a person under China’s manipulation, like the Asahi Shimbun, might he not be perplexed?＊