Cracks are appearing over Chinese President Xi Jinping's hold over the Communist Party of China and the violent Clash with India at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) appears to be part of the plan to project Xi as a strong leader. China appears a strong nation under a decisive leader, an image carefully cultivated by propaganda and state-controlled media that present a single unified front. However, Chairman Xi Jinping's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed serious structural cracks in the facade of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Analysing China's aggressive behaviour in recent times Adam Ni, a China watcher and co-founder of China Neican, commented, "Today, China is portrayed by some as monolithic, its ruling party malicious and its leaders Machiavellian sages bent on world domination. The reality is that China is fragmented, deeply contradictory, its leaders flawed and having a hard time just holding everything together."

Despite its orchestrated unity and clockwork nature, the much-delayed National People's Congress (NPC) further underscored the tectonic vibrations that Beijing's leaders are having to counter.

Scott Kennedy, Senior Advisor and Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics at of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in the USA, described the economic outlook enunciated at the NPC as "pragmatic". He called the country's abandonment of growth forecasts as an "amazing, and in some ways revolutionary, step for China's governance, because the growth target is the North Star for China's economy".

He said it would be "disorienting" for everyone. If the CCP had set a growth target for 2020, it would be only 1.2%, according to International Monetary Fund estimates. Kennedy estimated that China has lost between 60 million and 100 million jobs because of COVID-19. Unemployment could impact all business sectors and reach 15%, which is a far cry from the 5.5% unemployment level China was aiming for when it started 2020.

Of course, the CCP's luminaries are well sheltered from such harsh realities. J. Michael Cole, Senior Fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, tweeted, "...Remember this: the total net worth of the ~3,000 NPC delegates is a whopping US$470 billion or so. The wealthy class' greed, self-interest and symbiotic relationship w/ the CCP drive this ship."

According to Cole's estimate, each NPC delegate would, therefore, have an average net worth of nearly USD 160 million. This is perhaps the true "socialism with Chinese characteristics," where the entrenched elite grow richer and cling to power.

In addition to more clarion criticism of Chinese behavior from Western governments, there is growing demand from some quarters of the Chinese people for a much-needed change in their nation's trajectory. Of course, it is difficult to know how deeply rooted this sentiment is, given the Chinese populace's total lack of freedom to voice their concerns.

One of the most strident criticisms to come from a Chinese citizen was aired by China Digital Times, a US-based "bilingual media organization that brings uncensored news and online voices from China to the world". It recently published a private talk given by retired Chinese Central Party School professor Cai Xia, a legal scholar and long-time advocate for rights and the rule of law.

Currently outside her country, she had some harsh criticism for the CCP and its chairman, although she did not name Xi directly. She highlighted two foundational problems in China's current governance: its system and theory.

Referring to the current party system that elevated Xi to the top of the pile, Cai said, "This tells us that this system is going nowhere. It is useless to try and change it. Fundamentally speaking, this system must be abandoned."

She warned about Xi's 2018 power grab: "He took the Plenum Session of the 18th National Congress of the CCP hostage. Two days before the session, he rushed to throw out the term limit system. He forced everyone to swallow the revision like he was stuffing 'dog poo' down their throats. So many Central Committee members were at the session, yet not one dared to raise this issue."

Cai bravely continued to lambast her national leader: "And this one person, a central leader who has grasped the knife handle [police apparatus], the gun barrel [military] and faults within the system itself - that is: one, corruption among officials; and two, the lack of human rights and legal protection for party members and cadres. With these two grasped in his hands, he has turned 90 million party members into slaves, tools to be used for his personal advantage. When he needs it, he uses the party. When he doesn't need it, party members are no longer treated as party members. He can easily put you somewhere and label you as a corrupt official."

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