As India TV News and Fox News repeat speculation that the current dictator of China, Xi Jinping, may soon be toppled from power, The Sunday Guardian offers counter-commentary: “Rumours of Xi’s fall are wishful thinking” (July 6, 2025).
B.R. Deepak reviews supposed signs that Xi is being ousted and who his successor might be. Then pours cold water on the speculation, saying that the script is all too familiar—
secret coups, military mutiny, party elders plotting from their villas by the sea. In reality, Hu [one proffered candidate for next dictator of China], who famously was escorted out of the 20th Party Congress in 2022 in a rare moment of open tension, is frail and largely sidelined; while Wen [another proffered candidate for next dictator of China], now in his eighties, has long retreated from politics. As for the Shanghai clique making a comeback after 12 years of Xi’s rule, [this] is highly unrealistic, as the faction’s people have long vacated the positions for Xi loyalists. Even the turmoil inside the PLA tells a different story than conspiracists wish. Xi’s mass firing of generals isn’t a sign that they’re out for him. Rather it’s a warning shot that no one is safe if they step out of line, not even among his loyalists….
Ultimately, whether Xi disappears from view for two weeks or purges generals from the ranks, the ideological DNA he has embedded [of] Party supremacy, regime security, techno-nationalism, and an assertive foreign policy is here to stay. China’s bureaucracy, the PLA, state-owned enterprises, and propaganda apparatus all remain firmly aligned with this line of thinking.
Rumours about Xi’s personal fragility do not translate into any meaningful shift in direction. The system is designed to follow Xi’s blueprint for the “New Era.” Foreign analysts and exiled dissidents may wish Xi away, but gossip is not strategy. The reality is starker: there is no palace coup, no rebellious army faction, no resurgent party elders. There is only Xi Jinping; and for now, his power is absolute.
There’s more to Deepak’s rebuttal. Much of what he says seems reasonable enough, though it’s not definitive and not always entirely on point. It’s also debatable whether all new or previously existing elements of Xi’s regime are “here to stay” after he’s out of the picture. Or even before he’s out of the picture. They’re here to stay for now, maybe.
