Xi consolidates power further in crackdown on open letter

Even as the steady drumbeat of Western reports about the intensifying resistance to Xi Jinping manifested by the open letter - such as here, here, and here - runs its predictable course, the cold hard reality is that he has already won another round of repression of internal dissent and civil society. The crackdown has effectively preempted any credible challenge to his "core" leadership and has paved the way for an unencumbered second term starting with next year's 19th party congress.

Even while claiming that the party has been "rattled"  by the open letter, the New York Times relays that the nascent party mutiny has been squelched:

Mr. Cai said he received a new letter on Monday claiming to be a petition of 171 “loyal party members” urging Mr. Xi to quit. He said he chose not to publish that one. He said: “As it was also anonymous, it lacks credibility.”

Lack of credibility? Get serious. If Mr. Xi's security goons hadn't gone on an international witch hunt, these 171 "anonymous" "loyal party members" would be competing with the writers of the original "anonymous" letter for a place in the revolutionary sun.

The original March 4 letter has the tone of a putsch, as Xiao Qiang confirms:

Xiao Qiang, an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who monitors Chinese media for the website China Digital Times, attributed the response in part to the letter’s unusual phrasing. “Bluff or true, this tone sounds more like coup plotters talking to the leader they want to depose, rather than an open letter with dissenting political views,” he said.

By contrast, this new petition seems to be 171 political idiots foolishly believing all the anti-Xi hype generated by the Western media into thinking that the moment is actually ripe for a new spring.

Sure, Xi and co. are "rattled" - more plausibly, genuinely annoyed by these nuisances (while not exactly petty, they're still essentially nuisances). It's the dissenters themselves who are now petrified.