British Analyst Envisions Overthrow of China’s Xi Jinping

Chinese President Xi Jinping, pressured to resign by Li Keqiang and other Politburo members, is escorted to a coastal luxury villa while Li, along with other top civilian and military officials, forms a new government in Beijing. The scene from a recently published book is imaginary, but its author, retired British diplomat Roger Garside, told VOA he believed the scenario was not outside the realm of possibility.

“I believe the U.S. and its allies have great economic superiority compared with China, and we’ve got to use that to bring about regime change in China,” Garside said in a phone interview from his home in London. "We can’t decide from outside how China shall be governed, but as I show in my book, there are those within China who want to change, and we can work to help those people. We can work to bring about conditions in which they can achieve what they want.”

Garside’s view of what is possible in China is rooted in his own experience during three years as the principal analyst of Chinese internal politics at the British Embassy in Beijing.

Read more