“Regime Change in China Is Not Only Possible, It Is Imperative” is the title given to an opinion piece by Roger Garside, a British diplomat who was posted to Hong Kong while in the armed forces in the 1950s and twice served in the British Embassy in Beijing. The opinion piece in Toronto’s Globe and Mail yesterday serves to promote Garside’s latest book, China Coup: The Great Leap to Freedom, in which he expresses hope that Xi Jinping would be ousted by other Chinese leaders in a coup d'état.
After briefly reviewing what he considers the greatest sins of China — “disregarding international law in the South China Sea,” violating treaty agreements vis-à-vis Hong Kong, “committing genocide in Xinjiang,” and having “the aim of world leadership in artificial intelligence” — Garside joyfully states his conclusion: “Therefore, the U.S. and its allies must make regime change in China the highest goal of their strategy toward that country. This is not a goal that governments can openly declare, but it is one they must actively pursue.”
Discounting criticisms, such as it being no business of ours to decide the Chinese government, Garside optimistically writes that “Everything I have learned convinces me that regime change in China is not only possible, it is imperative.”
To stress China’s weakness, Garside cites figures indicating that China has spent more on internal security than on defense for decades. (Is it actually a good thing that the U.S. spends several so much on its military that it is several times its police spending?)
