Not so “Mysterious” disappearances multiply in Beijing

In this article (in French here), Challenges magazine’s journalist takes a cautious approach, highlighting the possible origins of the recent “disappearances” of high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials, including within the Army (PLA).

It is indeed unlikely that they have a common and, above all, unique cause/explanation, all the more so as China has recently been challenged on all fronts (economic, financial, diplomatic, security…).

No single explanatory factor, then – too simple for China!

On the other hand, there are a number of working hypotheses to be established (and to be followed), including :

– the strategic implications of the profound deterioration in Sino-American relations for the internal equilibrium of the Chinese regime and,
– the difficulty of finding the tipping point from one economic and financial model to another, vitiated by its own modus operandi and,
– the equally delicate task of maintaining the ideological and strategic unity of all the CCP’s leading strata, with regard to the first two points.