The three main centres of global power -- America, Europe, and China -- all have their strengths and weaknesses. China's main weaknesses are a particularly toxic demographic situation combined with a rather opaque political system in which nepotism and corruption can thrive.
According to a U.S. intelligence report made public Thursday (20th March), the second problem is as bad as ever with China's leader holding a reported $1 billion in hidden wealth through family members.
As reported by the Washington Times, a newspaper that is owned by the totally unbiased Moonie religious cult:
"Chinese President Xi Jinping has amassed more than $1 billion in assets through relatives, according to a U.S. intelligence report made public Thursday revealing 'endemic' corruption at all levels of the ruling Chinese Communist Party."
The unclassified Director of National Intelligence report, Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, was drafted by David O. Shullman, head of the National Intelligence Office for China, following 2024 legislation sponsored by Tennessee Representative Andy Ogles (Republican) and then-Florida Senator Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State.
However, at only six pages long, the report is rather lightweight and seems more intended to give an "overview" or "characterization" of the situation in China, possibly for propaganda purposes.
As many as 65% of all government officials in China receive unofficial income through bribery or graft — despite more than a decade of anti-corruption efforts that have ensnared over 5 million Chinese Communist Party officials.
According to the document:
The unwitting message of the report is that both corruption and anti-corruption are effectively being utilised like a carrot and stick by the CCP leadership mainly to impose central control and ideological discipline, rather than to just to facilitate enrichment.
In fact, the central allegation of the report, namely that Xi Jinping has amassed $1 billion in hidden wealth, backs up this analysis, as $1 billion is a relatively small amount of graft for someone in charge of what is now the World's biggest effective economy.
According to equally reliable reports and guesstimates, Vladimir Putin who is President-Dictator of a relatively poor nation in the North of Eurasia has amassed over 200 times as much wealth, while Donald Trump a prominent politician in the area formerly known as the United States of America has illicitly raised up to $6.2 billion in a few days from the floatation of a dubious meme coin.
According to the document:
"Corruption is an endemic feature of and challenge for China, enabled by a political system with power highly centralized in the hands of the CCP, a CCP-centric concept of the rule of law, a lack of independent checks on public officials, and limited transparency."
The unwitting message of the report is that both corruption and anti-corruption are effectively being utilised like a carrot and stick by the CCP leadership mainly to impose central control and ideological discipline, rather than to just to facilitate enrichment.
"The report suggests that Mr. Xi’s high-profile 13-year campaign as president to stamp out corruption has been a failure. Anti-corruption efforts instead are focused on imposing political discipline and ideological purity rather than rooting out rampant financial crime, the report said, to preserve party control and hide illegitimacy."
In fact, the central allegation of the report, namely that Xi Jinping has amassed $1 billion in hidden wealth, backs up this analysis, as $1 billion is a relatively small amount of graft for someone in charge of what is now the World's biggest effective economy.
According to equally reliable reports and guesstimates, Vladimir Putin who is President-Dictator of a relatively poor nation in the North of Eurasia has amassed over 200 times as much wealth, while Donald Trump a prominent politician in the area formerly known as the United States of America has illicitly raised up to $6.2 billion in a few days from the floatation of a dubious meme coin.
No comments:
Post a Comment
All Comments MUST include a name (either real or sock). Also don't give us an easy excuse to ignore your brilliant comment by using "shitposty" language.