Beijing tightens control ahead of Xi's big moment on world stage

Xi is having his neighbors over for a BBQ. Showing off his kids. Which is great in a way, better regional stability for 3B+ people than the alternative.

Is he celebrating his administration? Are 1.4B Chinese happier than they were at the start of his administration? Well, they’re not in a hot war, there is no nationwide famine nor one on the horizon, no evidence of a civil war, no pandemic nor the initiation of one, continuous improvement of Quality of Life for most citizens (modulo looming real estate collapse)…so a big win by Chinese historical standards. At the expense of censorship, control and oppression unacceptable by Western (and perhaps global) standards, which his biggest neighbors don’t care about a bit themselves.

Doesn’t sound like this party is for “the West”, nor do they care what “the West” thinks…so it’s not really a “world stage” thing. If Mao is prominently positioned and this is a grand military parade, it sounds like a mid century retro themed celebration, appropriate for celebrating the 80th anniversary of the Chinese “defeat” of Japan. A sock hop for the CCP, with a dose of historical revisionism. But Xi’s big moment? Eh.