The Peter Zeihan Podcast Series

What Happens to China After Xi Jinping Dies? || Peter Zeihan

Jul 9, 2024

Geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan discusses the potential future of China after Xi Jinping's death, exploring succession issues and the challenges of governance in China. Topics include regional diversity, historical contexts, and succession planning amidst financial and demographic issues.

06:20

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Peter Zeihan

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Quick takeaways

Xi Jinping's extreme power consolidation and elimination of successors could lead to centralized control challenges in China post his reign.

China's diverse regions with distinct identities coupled with lack of clear successor and demographic issues may lead to potential state dissolution after Xi Jinping's rule.

Deep dives

Xi Jinping and the Cult of Personality

Xi Jinping has consolidated power to an extreme degree within China, creating a cult of personality around himself. He has eliminated potential successors and talented individuals from the system, leading to a situation where he stands alone in power and will likely continue in a highly centralized manner. Despite being technically federal, China has become essentially unitary under Xi's control, with all decisions emanating from Beijing, setting the stage for potential challenges after his rule.

Future of China post Xi Jinping's Death and Governance Analysis

2min

Challenges of Ruling China and Potential State Dissolution

5min

I get a lot of "what if..." and "what happens next..." style questions and most of them suck, but today's question takes us down a fairly interesting rabbit hole - what happens to China if Chairman Xi Jinping dies or steps down?

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