In the 4/21/2003 New Republic, Jasper Becker writes "Sudden Impact"

In Beijing's mind, the Iraq war shows Powell wasn't bluffing. Diplomats in Beijing say China now believes it has only a brief window to prevent an Iraq-like war from exploding near its borders and thus has drawn closer to the U.S. position...According to diplomats in Beijing, China has even begun considering how to push Kim Jong Il from power. Diplomats say some Chinese officials have privately started arguing that it would be better for Beijing to undertake actions that help remove Kim and install a new government in the North committed to economic reform and regional stability, which would benefit China. Some also feel it would be better for China, rather than the United States, to oust Kim so as not to extend U.S. influence in China's backyard.

In the 6/23/2003 edn., it's "Mussolini Redux", where he convincingly argues that the CCP is turning fascist, presenting several factors, including

To teach average Chinese that China is a waking power that has often been abused by outsiders, the CCP organizes frequent mass events, such as the garden ceremony and giant pageants attended by hundreds of thousands, as well as other propaganda. And, just as the press under Mussolini played up foreigners' invasions and humiliations of Italy, endless articles in China's state-controlled press remind the Chinese of the West's dominance of Chinese politics and economics before World War II and of Japan's invasion of China in the '30s. In so doing, the party instills a permanent resentment of foreigners, even though far more Chinese have been killed by the CCP than by the United States, Japan, and Great Britain....[The CCP] could become increasingly tempted to use its military strength to demonstrate national glory, as Mussolini did by invading Ethiopia in 1935. The CCP and the army are completely intertwined--Jiang is the head of the military--and China's rhetoric is often so vehemently irredentist that a demonstration of military strength, perhaps by invading Taiwan, seems all too possible. The propaganda machine is constantly engaged in an effort to elevate the military's prestige and glorify its victories and contributions to national unity.

(emphasis mine).