Having lived in the shadow of China for the better part of a decade, I don't find this surprising. Xi Jin Ping is terrifying. One look at his story (dad disappearing to be "re-educated," sister dying - probably by suicide due to the torment of red guard, Jin Ping himself a scared 14 year old on his own, also tormented because of his father's former rank) and you wonder what one has to do, mentally, to align himself with the party that took so much from his childhood. He's now dictator for life, and people like Jack Ma can be disappeared, and no one stands up to it. China's liberalization stopped with Xi's rise - I just wonder if the middle class will grow strong enough to cast him off. And I worry for Taiwan.