What is an internal weakness that the Chinese regime cannot get rid of because it is part of its DNA

 "So it’s worth thinking about what, if anything, our secret weapon might be this time around — not the overt strengths that we can bring to bear on China, like trade sanctions or naval power, but rather the inner weakness that the regime can’t get rid of because it’s part of its DNA.

Three candidates come to mind.

The first is nationalism. Since China’s leaders abandoned orthodox Marxism, nationalism has been one of the two pillars of the regime’s legitimacy (the other is the rising standard of living). Nationalism explains Beijing’s truculence when it comes to its maritime and territorial claims against its neighbors, its massive arms buildup, its escalating threats to Taiwan and its habit of wearing out its welcome even in countries it seeks to woo.

But the problem with assertive nationalism is how the neighbors react. Japan is engaged in a major military buildup, with China topmost in mind. Australia is moving, a little awkwardly, to curb Chinese influence. Vietnam keeps edging closer to the United States. Washington doesn’t have to encourage nationalism in order to benefit from it. But the best thing the administration could do to solidify this quiet containment is re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which the Trump administration so heedlessly trashed.

The second is cult-of-personality politics. Xi Jinping has consolidated power like no other leader since Mao Zedong. In some ways this has made Chinese authoritarianism more efficient, in ways that can seem enviable when compared with the West’s shambolic governance in the face of a crisis like Covid.

But Xi cannot overcome the inherent weaknesses of hyper-centralized power. The more power one man holds, the more vulnerable the entire regime is to his misjudgments. The more he tries to project an image of invincibility, the likelier he is to wall himself off from unpleasant but necessary information. And the more he cuts off internal channels of dissent, the more he foments precisely the kind of ideological and political disenchantment he seeks to quash. Xi is creating the very critics and enemies who may someday be the regime’s undoing.

Finally, there is China’s ever-expanding campaign to regulate, monitor and control God — not in the sense of a higher power, but of an inner voice.

China’s leaders (including the ostensibly more liberal ones) have always been ferocious in their repression of spiritual and religious movements — whether it’s Falun Gong, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism or independent Christian churches — because religion cultivates a moral conscience free of political control.

But moral conscience is not something any government in history has been able to compel, which is why the West was wise when it adopted the principle of religious liberty. And Joe Biden should underscore this essential difference with Xi at every opportunity, including by inviting the Dalai Lama to the White House, as well as other Chinese faith leaders."