Xi Jiping is in a life or death power struggle. Is he more on the death side of things?
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
It seems in all likelihood
He Weidong, one of China’s top generals, has been purged.
And if we’re talking about purges and clandestine power struggles at the highest
ranks of the Chinese Communist Party, you know what that means!
It’s time for another episode of the People’s favorite Communist soap opera—General Hostility.
Previously on General Hostility, after more than a decade in power, Xi Jinping has purged
millions of Chinese Communist officials in his so-called anti-corruption campaign.
But anti-corruption is just a front for Xi’s true intentions! Trying to take over the world!
Ok, it’s actually purging disloyal officials to solidify his power over the CCP. And then
trying to take over the world! But in the face of a trade war with America,
and a fraying economy at home, are Xi’s days numbered?
I love that show.
So yes,
Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, he’s purged a lot of people,
Particularly in the military.
This is pretty typical in Communist China. It happens every 10-15 years.
In 1959, Mao Zedong purged Marshal Peng Dehuai, China’s Defense Minister at the time. Why? Because
Peng resisted Mao’s cult of personality. He obviously lost that power struggle.
That sparked a huge round of purges in the military.
Fast forward to the 1970s.
Mao’s chosen successor, Marshal Lin Biao, allegedly tried to assassinate Mao,
And so Mao began another massive purge of top officials in the military.
When Deng Xiaoping led the CCP,
a failed Chinese invasion of Vietnam led to another round of purges.
When Jiang Zemin came to power in the 90s, boom, more military purges.
You get the idea.
Purging the military is just what CCP leaders do. It’s on their list, along with genociding
a religious and/or ethnic minority of their choice, and trying to take over the world.
When Xi Jinping became the leader of the CCP, he was in a massive power struggle
with a political faction tied to former CCP leader and current pickled toad Jiang Zemin.
So of course he purged all the military officials promoted under Jiang. Well,
almost all of the military officials.
Xi purged General Guo Boxiong, who was in charge of military
development and General Xu Caihou, who was the political commissar.
They had been in charge for a long time,
so almost every top Chinese military official had been promoted by them.
Xi’s purge was devastating.
He completely reorganized the People’s Liberation Army command structure.
And all the top positions were now filled with people
Xi personally promoted for their loyalty to him.
And that’s what’s so weird about this recent round of purges. Xi is getting rid of people
like He Weidong, who are widely believed to be Xi Jinping allies.
He Weidong was big. He got what’s called in Chinese politics, a helicopter ride.
Xi promoted him several ranks at once, right to the top. In 2019, he was put in charge of
China’s Eastern Command. In other words, the guys who would be invading Taiwan.
Then two years ago, He was promoted to be number three in China’s Central Military
Commission—that’s the group that controls the military. The number one position is,
obviously Xi Jinping. But the number two position
is Zhang Youxia, the only survivor
of the purges of General Guo Boxiong and General Xu Caihou.
So if you were placing bets on who Xi would purge, you’d think Zhang Youxia , who was
promoted by the generals appointed by Xi Jinping’s arch enemy, would be way
more likely. So why was it He Weidong? Well, since this is the opaque world of
inner Communist Party politics, there are several explanations floating around.
According to Miles Yu, who’s the director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute,
When Xi collapsed all the different departments of the PLA during his big
reorganization I mentioned earlier, this created a lot of overlap. Redundancies.
So with Generals Zhang Youxia and He Weidong, “They have overlapping core competencies.”
“that's why you got enormous internal struggle and fight against each other for favor. So it's
basically a turf war and that's why Xi Jinping had to sacrifice one of them.”
Of course that doesn’t really explain why it was He Weidong that got purged and not Zhang Youxia.
So here’s another explanation.
It has to do with this guy—Miao Hua.
Miao was another member of the Central Military Commission,
and Xi Jinping’s main propaganda guy for the military. So,
a major Xi ally in the military. And he got purged. That was a few months ago.
Sinoinsider, a risk consultancy that specializes in elite Chinese politics,
suggests his purge could have been similar to Chairman Mao’s purge of Lin Biao —a
close ally that may have become too ambitious for the Great Helmsman.
“In the process of advancing Xi’s political objectives,
Miao could have inadvertently cultivated his own power base,
or was perceived by Xi as having cultivated a power base that could threaten his interests.”
Life as a CCP official sounds very stressful. If you don’t get enough power,
you get purged. If you get too much power, you also get purged. If you
even look like you might be getting too much power, you still get purged.
So if you’re about to get purged, what can you do to save yourself? Rat other people out.
According to Yuan Hongbing, an Australia-based Chinese dissident,
Miao Hua, in order to save his own skin, made sweeping accusations of disloyalty.
How sweeping? He accused around 1,300 people at all ranks of the Chinese military of disloyalty,
including people above him, like He Weidong.
But then there’s yet another explanation floating around out there—
Xi Jinping is out of power. As in, totally out of power.
And General Zhang Youxia, the number two guy in the
Central Military Commission is really in charge.
That’s why Xi allies are being purged. Because now there’s a new guy at the top.
As the guy basically in charge of China’s military, Zhang would have a ton of power.
And Xi has certainly made himself a lot of enemies over the years.
And with the Chinese economy struggling
Young people unable to find work
And a growing trade war with the United States
Maybe enough people within the Chinese Communist Party have had enough.
And there certainly have been coup *attempts* against Xi before.
But there are some problems with this.
Rumors of a *successful* coup against Xi have obviously not always panned out.
And looking at Chinese state-run media, you don’t get a sense that Xi’s going anywhere.
Instead you see, Xi Jinping Thought on Culture leads path to national rejuvenation
And Senior official calls for thoroughly studying, implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture
Officials at all levels, particularly in the military,
are still being told to study Xi’s writings and speeches.
Typically in Chinese Communist power struggles,
*before* one faction topples another, they create a narrative around it to sway public opinion.
If Xi really were out of power, you wouldn’t expect his propaganda to be so prominent.
The real test of Xi’s power will come in 2027
at the 21st Party Congress.
And whether or not he gets, “elected” to another 5 years as China’s supreme leader.
Oh but don’t worry, there’s plenty of General Hostility to watch before then. In fact, there are
signs that there are bigger purges ahead. Not just in the military, but throughout the entire CCP.
Last month two CCP officials switched jobs. Now,
that might not sound earthshaking, but it’s highly unusual.
In fact, unlike the military purges that happen every decade,
this has never happened before since the CCP took over China.
This is Shi Taifeng, who was in charge of the United Front Work Department.
He swapped jobs with this guy, Li Ganjie, who was in charge of the Central Organization Department.
The United Front is an incredibly important department, because it’s in charge of influencing
and subverting others for the CCP. Both inside China and internationally. For example,
all the influence campaigns targeting foreign politicians are run by the United Front.
These pandas? United Front operatives.
But the Central Organization Department is even more important than the United Front. Because it’s
essentially the Human Resources Department for the CCP. Except this HR Department can purge you.
So if Xi Jinping is moving Shi Taifeng, who’s considered one of his allies,
to head the Central Organization Department, that’s pretty big. Personnel issues are now
a bigger priority for Xi than the United Front’s influence and subversion campaigns.
According to SinoInsider, “The move foreshadows a sweeping purge or reassignment of officials in the
Party, the government, and the military, as well as major personnel changes.”
You know what that means.
In the Chinese Communist Party, there is only one rule:
live by the power struggle, die by the power struggle.
After a decade of purges, Xi Jinping still hasn’t won. Will Xi start an earthquake inside the CCP,
purged officials falling left and right? Or will he himself finally be toppled?
Find out next time, on General Hostility.
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.