墓穴を掘る ー undoing

ニュースのヘッドラインを斜め読みしていて目に留まったのですが、

China's 'zero-COVID' policy could be Xi's undoing

China hasn't seen protests like these since 1989's pro-democracy movement in Tiananmen Square

(Helen Raleigh. China's 'zero-COVID' policy could be Xi's undoing. Fox News. November 29, 2022.)

中国共産党のゼロコロナ政策に反発したデモが中国国内各地で拡がっていることを取り上げたもので、想定外の反発の高まりに諸外国も注目しています。

"undoing"という表現を取り上げたいと思います。

記事は以下のように続きます。

If China's dictator Xi Jinping had thought he could begin his third term with firm control of the nation, he is facing a rude awakening. Protests against his cruelty-enforced "zero Covid" policy erupted in several Chinese cities last week and have now spread nationwide, with some protestors openly demanding Xi resign.

The canary in the coal mine was a fire in a high-rise apartment in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang and home to millions of Uyghur Muslims and minorities, killing at least ten people and injuring nine. Many people blamed the barriers erected by the local authorities to confine residents inside the apartment, which hindered residents' escape and fire-fighters' rescue efforts, leading to unnecessary deaths. Heartbreaking videos of fire victims desperately crying for help went viral on China's social media before censors took them down. 

The Chinese public was outraged by what they saw and couldn't help wondering if a similar tragedy would happen to them and their loved ones.

(ibid.)

習近平政権は異例の3期目に入り、政敵を排除して独裁政権の基盤を固めたかに見えましたが、ゼロコロナ政策が大規模な国民の反発になるとは想定していなかったのではないか、今回の反発は、

Xi’s undoing

となりうる、ということなのです。

"undo"というと、コンピュータである操作を取り消す、という意味をまず思い浮かべるところですが、"undoing"には、没落とか零落、破滅の意味があります。

そして辞書を見ていますと、

work one’s own undoing

という言い回しには墓穴を掘る、と載っていました。

以前取り上げた"undone"という表現にも没落の意味がありますが、完了（受動）の"undone"と現在分詞の"undoing"とでは若干違うニュアンスがあるように思います。