While the 2020s has been dubbed a "decade of concern" for Taiwan, the volatile nature of Chinese politics means that 2022 is not going to be any different for Taiwan.
If the 2008 Beijing Games were a confident and optimistic -- albeit highly curated -- "coming-out party" to the world, the 2022 version feels like a completely different beast: under siege, unfriendly and on edge, as reported by Taipei Times.
It looks set to be the most politicly charged Olympics since the 1980 Moscow Summer Games when the US led a boycott to protest the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union a year earlier.
The CCP is going to extreme lengths to ensure that the Games present China in the best possible light. Foreign visitors are banned from entering China, while athletes and officials must remain inside a "closed-loop" of locked down venues and accommodation, guarded by rings of security.
To their chagrin, ordinary Beijingers have been barred from joining the extravaganza on their doorstep, as reported by Taipei Times.
On Friday next week, China is to host the Beijing Winter Olympic Games under a cloud of diplomatic boycotts, a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the country and simmering strife between factions within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to Taipei Times.
On the other hand, Xi Jinping is faced with a perfect storm in the lead-up to the Communist Party of China's 20th National Congress in October this year, when he is to make his pitch for a third term as reported by Taipei Times.
Meanwhile, Xi Jinping faces leadership challenges, not just from the faction headed by former Chinese president Jiang Zemin but also from disillusioned princelings and hawkish generals chomping at the bit to annex Taiwan.
The danger for Taiwan is that Xi could be forced into launching military action against Taiwan sooner than he would like, in a desperate bid to cling onto power and outmanoeuvre his political enemies, as analysed by Taipei Times.
( With inputs from ANI )
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