Political pandemic to deepen wounds of world

China may become biggest risk to international politics in long run

20210109 capitol hill breach

Trump supporters besiege the U.S. Capitol building after a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 presidential election results by Congress on Jan. 6 in Washington.  © Reuters

HIROYUKI AKITA, Nikkei commentator

TOKYO -- In 1966, Mao Zedong, chairman of the Communist Party of China, launched the Cultural Revolution by inciting the masses to attack his political foes while he was on the back foot in jockeying for power. The de facto mass coup d'etat threw China into a decade of unprecedented chaos in its history.

Though fundamentally different in scale and political backgrounds, the disorder triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump in his own country is reminiscent of Mao's tactics. Trump prompted a mob of his supporters to storm the Capitol building on Wednesday.

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