The Man Plotting to Overthrow the CCP

Chinese Communist Party head Xi Jinping (center) and lawmakers stand for the anthem during the closing session of the rubber-stamp legislature’s conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, on March 11, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

Commentary

If China’s economic growth takes a nosedive, then Xi Jinping could find himself forcibly removed from office, according to Michael Shoebridge, a well-respected security expert.

In an interesting interview with the Daily Mail, Shoebridge, director of defense, strategy, and national security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Xi’s safety is only guaranteed if the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) delivers economic prosperity.

There is no shortage of people, both inside China and outside, who would love to see Xi and the CCP overthrown. One of those people is a man by the name of Guo Wengui. His plan to bring down the CCP is odd; it involves cryptocurrency.

Who is Guo Wengui? To some, he is a courageous whistleblower, a dissident who wants to open our eyes to the dangers posed by the CCP. However, to others, such as those in power in Beijing, he is a man not to be trusted.

In 2014, Guo, a former real estate magnate, left China for the United States. A regular critic of the CCP, Guo also happens to be the creator of Himalaya Coin, or HCoin, a mysterious cryptocurrency launched last November.

The goal of the coin is simple: to one day, in the not-so-distant future, replace the Chinese yuan.

According to ABC News Australia, William Je, a Hong Kong businessman familiar with Guo’s new “currency,” believes HCoin has “a market value of US$43 billion.”

However, ABC also quoted Aaron Lane, a lawyer and crypto expert. Quick to pour water on Je’s claims, Lane said there was “absolutely no chance” this valuation could be correct. Intimately familiar with crypto-related cons, Lane warned readers that HCoin has “the hallmarks of a cryptocurrency scam.”

As someone who has been involved in the world of crypto for many years, I side with Lane. There is no chance that HCoin will replace the yuan. Like 99.9 percent of all cryptocurrencies that come into existence, it will fizzle out, scamming a few poor suckers in the process. This is how the world of crypto operates. For every decent project, there are a dozen or more questionable ones.

More importantly, it will take more than one man and one cryptocurrency to topple the CCP. For the CCP to be defeated, the people of China must rise up. If the CCP continues down this path of “zero-COVID” lunacy, maybe they will.

Deliverymen wearing protective suits carry bags of food at the gate of a residential community in Shanghai, China, on April 11, 2022. Many residents in the city of 26 million have been confined to their homes for up to three weeks as China maintains its "zero-COVID" strategy of handling outbreaks with strict isolation and mass testing. AP Photo

Desperate People Do Desperate Things

Norman Borlaug, a renowned agronomist, famously said: “You can’t build peace on empty stomachs.”

No, but you can build inordinate amounts of rage and resentment.

Starvation drives people to extremes, making them do things unimaginable to the well-fed. Right now, in Shanghai, many people are starving. A city of 26 million people finds itself in complete lockdown. People are losing their minds. The suffering is immense.

On social media, a number of videos highlighting the anguish being felt by the city’s residents have gone viral. For example, in one video, you can hear people screaming from their apartments, desperately asking for help.

As the author Aaron Sarin recently noted, starvation “will push and pull human psychology in unusual directions—it is one of the few things that can overcome fear of the authorities.”

He’s right. Hungry mouths create hateful minds.

“A government that fails to feed the people,” wrote Sarin, “has lost all legitimacy.”

Again, Sarin is spot on. The fact that the CCP is prepared to let its people starve, all in the hope of “curbing” the latest COVID outbreak, paints the most disturbing of pictures.

And it’s not just Chinese citizens who are suffering. Shanghai is home to more than 160,000 foreigners. One of them happens to be a very close friend, a man I attended university with. I recently spoke with him, and he filled me in on the horrors that he and his colleagues are experiencing.

Although he has a high-ranking position in an international embassy, he has received no preferential treatment. Like so many others in the city, he is running out of supplies. Instead of helping the city’s residents, authorities have chosen to seal people into their homes. Those who refuse to leave their homes and relocate to decrepit quarantine centers find themselves dragged out by their collars; some have been dragged out by their hair.

“Zero-COVID” policies make zero sense; the CCP may or may not know this, but the people of China, especially those living in Shanghai, certainly do. Shutting down a city with three times the population of New York City will have a profound impact on the country, both psychologically and economically.

Although China’s economy made a solid start to the year, there is danger on the horizon. According to CNN, “the recent slump in consumer spending and rising unemployment suggest much tougher months ahead” for the CCP and the people of China.

The world’s most populous country is on the brink. HCoin won’t bring down the CCP, but the people of China just might.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.