In his first year in office, Chinese President Xi Jinping has amassed a level of individual power not seen among Chinese leaders in decades.

Perhaps the most striking evidence of this power grab was the recent announcement of the establishment of a new state security committee, almost certain to be headed by Xi.

As the Wall Street Journal reports, this new security committee is likely to cement Mr. Xi’s control over China’s military, domestic security and foreign policy and “help establish him as the country’s most individually powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping.”

The Telegraph writes: “The president appears to have navigated a treacherous path past his rivals inside the Communist Party to emerge at the end of his first year in power with a firm grip on all the levers of power” (November 12).

Xi’s success in consolidating power stems in part from his own ambition and shrewd maneuvering. But he has also been aided by a sense of crisis among China’s senior leaders. As the New York Times wrote, “Xi’s leadership style reflects … what appears to be agreement among many senior officials that they need a more agile and forceful leader to cope with difficult economic restructuring, foreign policy pressures, and domestic challenges to one-party rule, said watchers of Chinese politics” (November 15).

Mr. Xi is maneuvering to meet these challenges with an authority that is, to some analysts, suggestive of another powerful Asian leader. “Xi Jinping has now consolidated all relevant power bases in China” writes Forbes Asia, “drawing parallels to … his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.” Putting it more bluntly, “He wants to be Putin,” political commentator Rong Jian recently told The New York Times.

That comparison should be unnerving to anyone.

“In his first year in office, Mr. Xi has revealed himself as a stern authoritarian,” writes the Wall Street Journal. Like Putin, “He is haunted by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ‘color revolutions’ that toppled the regimes in former Soviet republics ….” Xi’s power grab reflects his determination to keep the Chinese party-state from suffering the same fate. But it also reflects Xi’s mission to return China to the golden era of “wealth and power” it enjoyed before its “century of humiliation” by imperialist powers (ibid).

The potential ramifications of Mr. Xi’s power grab are profound.

China’s military power continues to grow, underpinned by an economic might that is on course to surpass the U.S. by 2020. With the increasingly provocative stance China has taken in regional conflicts, its insistence on its “peaceful rise” is beginning to wear thin.

At the helm of this Asian juggernaut now sits a strongman wielding nearly total political control—an ambitious leader, already showing his authoritarian stripes and imbued with a mission to restore China to glory. Now wielding the power to brush aside the bureaucracy that has traditionally constrained China’s leaders, Xi has a free hand to pursue his vision.

It’s therefore not hard to envision China, under Xi’s leadership, acting out more forcefully in regional conflicts and competing more aggressively for resources. In fact, with Xi positioned to remain China’s leader for nearly another decade, it is possible he will preside over the most powerful, yet destructive period in China’s history.

Bible prophecy shows America’s weight in global affairs will continue to diminish rapidly in coming months and years. In its place will rise two competing power blocs: one European, operating in the tradition of the Holy Roman Empire; the other Asian, referred to in Bible prophecy as the “kings of the east,” and dominated by Russia and China. Conflict between these two regional consortiums will culminate in the most deadly military conflagration in Earth’s history.

Xi’s success in cementing power over his nation’s military and foreign policy is worth watching closely, as it may provide an important clue about how China will be steered onto its prophesied collision course with Europe—and how close this conflict could be. For any nation destined to play a decisive role in shaping history, an ambitious leader with the power to steer his nation is key. China’s dominant role in these end-time prophecies indicates that such a man could rise on the scene to lead it to rally behind Russia.

It could prove very significant that today we see power consolidating in the hands of Xi Jinping—an autocrat cast in the ideological mold of Vladimir Putin.

The groundwork is now being laid. In his current position, Xi is poised to emerge as a political figure whose role in history outweighs that of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping combined. In the coming months, watch for Mr. Xi to lead China toward a more confrontational foreign policy that heightens friction with Europe.