‘Greatest threat’: Chinese president Xi Jinping’s looming downfall predicted

He’s on a mission to rule China for life – but there are growing signs that Xi Jinping is “under attack” and that his power may be slipping.

Xi Jinping’s grip on power could be weakening, with an expert claiming the Chinese president was surrounded by “many enemies” with a major “fight brewing” in Beijing.

That’s according to billionaire investor George Soros, who told the Hoover Institution’s forum at Stanford University this week that the seemingly powerful leader could soon be toppled.

The philanthropist’s prediction comes after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) passed a rare “historical resolution” in November, which many China watchers believed could pave the way for Mr Xi to rule for life.

It was the third resolution of its kind in a century, with Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping the only other leaders to have achieved the milestone.

Despite this, Soros – the founder of the Open Society Foundations which supports democracies and opposes authoritarianism, and a vocal critic of Mr Xi’s government – is convinced his days could be numbered.

He said the 68-year-old’s removal would eradicate the “greatest threat” currently facing global open societies.

“It is to be hoped that Xi Jinping may be replaced by someone less repressive at home and more peaceful abroad,” he said.

“This would remove the greatest threat that open societies face today, and they should do everything within their power to encourage China to move in the desired direction.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping could be ousted this year, George Soros claims. Picture: Nicolas Asfouri/AFP

Soros claimed that the tide was already quietly turning behind the scenes.

“Given the strong opposition within the Communist Party, Xi Jinping’s carefully choreographed elevation to the level of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping may never occur,” he said.

“Xi Jinping has many enemies. Although nobody can oppose him publicly because he controls all the levers of power, there is a fight brewing within the CCP that is so sharp that it has found expression in various party publications.

“Xi is under attack from those who are inspired by Deng Xiaoping’s ideas and want to see a greater role for private enterprise.”

The 91-year-old claimed Xi could be ousted this year, as China reels from a string of devastating blows including the emergence of the Omicron strain, the country’s property crisis and a declining birthrate.

Evergrande has become a symbol of China’s real estate crisis. Picture: Hector Retamal/AFP

China’s real estate bloodbath has dominated global headlines for months on end, with Xi’s “common prosperity” policy – aimed at curbing debt, cooling real estate prices and reducing the power of tech juggernauts and billionaires – leading to a crackdown of indebted developer Evergrande.

The company now faces ruin, with a slew of other real estate behemoths also struggling.

Now, prices are plummeting, and Soros said everyday investors who put their life savings into the “unsustainable” property will likely turn on Mr Xi, who might not have what is takes to reverse the fiasco.

The falling birthrate is also another major threat to China’s already weakened economy, while Mr Xi’s draconian zero-Covid restrictions have also sparked fierce criticism, especially since the highly transmissible Omicron variant began spreading in the country, signalling it was already out of control.

“Omicron threatens to be Xi Jinping’s undoing,” Soros said.

He also claimed China’s birthrate was actually about 130 million lower than the 1.4 billion figure that’s regularly touted, which could “aggravate the real estate crisis, produce labour shortages, fiscal strain and a slowdown in the economy”.

According to the rich lister, Mr Xi will likely face a reckoning after the Beijing Winter Olympics in the second quarter of 2022, when it will be obvious whether his Covid and economic policies have succeeded or failed.

According to the International Monetary Fund, China’s economic growth is tipped to drastically slow down to 4.8 per cent this year.