OilPrice.com
Date: Jul 06, 2020
By: Gregory R. Copley

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) seemed to be considering, by July 2020, whether to risk early military conflict as a means of moving its declining strategic fortunes back from the precipice. Its momentum thus far in challenging the U.S. and the market societies has been based on non-kinetic amorphous warfare. Now, PRC Pres. Xi Jinping was being forced by a range of circumstances — a declining economy, the socioeconomic impact of the coronavirus epidemic, and a range of natural and demographic disasters and trends — to take precipitate military action before the final window on the path toward global dominance closed for the PRC.

Pres. Xi had moved into a situation similar to, but far more grave than, the 11th-hour desperation which faced Lt.Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri, the Argentine military ruler, in 1982.

Any delay in a decisive gesture by Xi at this stage would see Taiwan’s strength continue to rise, the PRC’s economy continue to slide, and the PRC’s isolation increase still further. The tacit alliance of its adversaries and former dependent trading partners were now gathering against Beijing.

The alternative to precipitate action by Pres. Xi could well only be his retirement from office, one way or another, or his transformation of priorities back to domestic control.    [FULL  STORY]