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Xi Jiping is in a life or death power struggle.
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Is he more on the death side of things?
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Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
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It seems in all likelihood
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He Weidong, one of China’s top
generals, has been purged.
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And if we’re talking about purges
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and
clandestine power struggles at the highest ranks
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of the Chinese Communist
Party,
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you know what that means!
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It’s time for another episode of the People’s
favorite Communist soap opera—
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General Hostility.
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Previously on General Hostility,
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after more
than a decade in power,
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Xi Jinping has purged millions of Chinese Communist officials
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in his so-called anti-corruption campaign.
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But anti-corruption is just a front
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for Xi’s
true intentions!
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Trying to take over the world!
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Ok, it’s actually purging disloyal officials
to solidify his power over the CCP
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. And then trying to take over the world!
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But in
the face of a trade war with America,
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and a fraying economy at
home, are Xi’s days numbered?
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I love that show.
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So yes,
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Since Xi Jinping came to power in
2012
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, he’s purged a lot of people,
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Particularly in the military.
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This is pretty typical in Communist
China. .
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It happens every 10-15 years
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In 1959, Mao Zedong purged Marshal Peng Dehuai,
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China’s Defense Minister at the time
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. Why? Because Peng resisted Mao’s cult of personality.
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He obviously lost that power struggle.
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That sparked a huge round
of purges in the military.
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Fast forward to the 1970s.
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Mao’s chosen successor, Marshal Lin
Biao,
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allegedly tried to assassinate Mao,
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And so Mao began another massive purge
of top officials in the military.
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When Deng Xiaoping led the CCP,
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a failed Chinese invasion of Vietnam
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led to another round of purges.
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When Jiang Zemin came to power in
the 90s,
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boom, more military purges.
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You get the idea.
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Purging the military is just what CCP leaders
do.
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It’s on their list, along with genociding
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a religious and/or ethnic minority of their
choice,
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and trying to take over the world.
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When Xi Jinping became the leader of the
CCP,
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he was in a massive power struggle
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with a political faction tied to former CCP
leader
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and current pickled toad Jiang Zemin.
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So of course he purged all the military
officials promoted under Jiang.
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Well, almost all of the military officials.
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Xi purged General Guo Boxiong,
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who was in charge of military development
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and General Xu Caihou,
who was the political commissar.
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They had been in charge for a long time,
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so almost every top Chinese military
official
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had been promoted by them.
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Xi’s purge was devastating.
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He completely reorganized the People’s
Liberation Army command structure.
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And all the top positions
were now filled with people
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Xi personally promoted for their loyalty to him.
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And that’s what’s so weird about this recent
round of purges.
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Xi is getting rid of people
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like He Weidong, who are widely
believed to be Xi Jinping allies.
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He Weidong was big.
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He got what’s called
in Chinese politics, a helicopter ride.
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Xi promoted him several ranks at once right
to the top
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, . In 2019, he was put in charge of China’s Eastern Command
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. In other words,
the guys who would be invading Taiwan.
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Then two years ago, He was promoted to be
number three
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in China’s Central Military Commission—
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that’s the group that controls
the military.
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The number one position is, obviously Xi Jinping.
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But the number two position
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is Zhang Youxia, the only survivor
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of the purges of General Guo
Boxiong and General Xu Caihou.
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So if you were placing bets on who Xi would
purge,
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you’d think Zhang Youxia ,
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who was promoted by the generals appointed by
Xi Jinping’s arch enemy,
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would be way more likely.
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So why was it He Weidong?
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Well, since this is the opaque world of inner Communist Party politics
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, there are
several explanations floating around.
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According to Miles Yu, who’s the director
of the China Center at the Hudson Institute,
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When Xi collapsed all the different
departments of the PLA during his big
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reorganization I mentioned earlier,.
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this
created a lot of overlap.
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Redundancies
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So with Generals Zhang Youxia and He Weidong,
“.”
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They have overlapping core competencies
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“that's why you got enormous internal struggle
and fight against each other for favor.
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So it'sbasically a turf war and that's why Xi
Jinping had to sacrifice one of them.”
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Of course that doesn’t really explain why it was
He Weidong that got purged and not Zhang Youxia.
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So here’s another explanation.
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It has to do with this guy—Miao Hua.
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Miao was another member of the
Central Military Commission,
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and Xi Jinping’s main propaganda
guy for the military.
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So, a major Xi ally in the military.
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. And he
got purged.
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That was a few months ago
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Sinoinsider, a risk consultancy that
specializes in elite Chinese politics,
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suggests his purge could have been similar
to Chairman Mao’s purge of Lin Biao —
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a close ally that may have become too
ambitious for the Great Helmsman.
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“In the process of advancing
Xi’s political objectives,
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Miao could have inadvertently
cultivated his own power base,
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or was perceived by Xi as having cultivated a
power base
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that could threaten his interests.”
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Life as a CCP official sounds very
stressful. ,
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If you don’t get enough power you get purged
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. If you get too much
power, you also get purged
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. If you even look like you might be getting
too much power,
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you still get purged.
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So if you’re about to get purged, .
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what can you
do to save yourself?
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Rat other people out
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According to Yuan Hongbing, an
Australia-based Chinese dissident,
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Miao Hua, in order to save his own skin,
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made sweeping accusations of disloyalty.
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How sweeping?
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He accused around 1,300 people at
all ranks of the Chinese military of disloyalty,
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including people above him,
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like He Weidong.
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But then there’s yet another
explanation floating around out there—
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Xi Jinping is out of power.
.
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As in, totally out of power
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And General Zhang Youxia,
the number two guy in the
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Central Military Commission is really in charge.
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That’s why Xi allies are being purged.
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Because now there’s a new guy at the top.
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As the guy basically in charge of China’s
military,.
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Zhang would have a ton of power
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And Xi has certainly made himself
a lot of enemies over the years.
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And with the Chinese economy struggling
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Young people unable to find work
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And a growing trade war with the United States
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Maybe enough people within the Chinese
Communist Party have had enough.
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And there certainly have been
coup attempts against Xi before.
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But there are some problems with this.
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Rumors of a successful coup against
Xi .
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have obviously not always panned out
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And looking at Chinese state-run media,
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you
don’t get a sense that Xi’s going anywhere.
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Instead you see, Xi Jinping Thought on
Culture leads path to national rejuvenation
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And Senior official calls for thoroughly studying,
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implementing Xi Jinping Thought on Culture
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Officials at all levels,
particularly in the military,
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are still being told to study
Xi’s writings and speeches.
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Typically in Chinese Communist power struggles,
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before one faction topples another,
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they create
a narrative around it to sway public opinion.
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If Xi really were out of power,
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you wouldn’t
expect his propaganda to be so prominent.
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The real test of Xi’s power will come in 2027
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at the 21st Party Congress.
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And whether or not he gets, “
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elected” to
another 5 years as China’s supreme leader.
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Oh but don’t worry, there’s plenty of General
Hostility to watch before then.
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In fact, there are signs that there are bigger purges ahead.
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Not just
in the military, but throughout the entire CCP.
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Last month two CCP officials switched jobs.
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Now, that might not sound earthshaking,
but it’s highly unusual.
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In fact, unlike the military
purges that happen every decade,
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this has never happened before
since the CCP took over China.
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This is Shi Taifeng, who was in charge
of the United Front Work Department.
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He swapped jobs with this guy,
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Li Ganjie, who was
in charge of the Central Organization Department.
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The United Front is an incredibly important
department,
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because it’s in charge of influencing
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and subverting others for the CCP.
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Both
inside China and internationally.
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For example, all the influence campaigns targeting foreign
politicians
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are run by the United Front.
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These pandas? United Front operatives.
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But the Central Organization Department
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is even
more important than the United Front.
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Because it’s essentially the Human Resources Department
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for
the CCP. .
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Except this HR Department can purge you
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So if Xi Jinping is moving Shi Taifeng,
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who’s considered one of his allies,
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to head the Central Organization Department,
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that’s pretty big.
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Personnel issues are now a bigger priority for Xi
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than the United
Front’s influence and subversion campaigns.
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According to SinoInsider,
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“The move foreshadows a
sweeping purge
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or reassignment of officials in the Party,
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the government, and the military,
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as well as major personnel changes.”
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You know what that means.
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In the Chinese Communist
Party, there is only one rule:
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live by the power struggle,
die by the power struggle.
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00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:19,494
After a decade of purges, Xi Jinping still hasn’t
won.
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Will Xi start an earthquake inside the CCP,
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purged officials falling left and right?
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Or will he himself finally be toppled?
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00:10:30,560 --> 00:10:36,080
Find out next time, on General Hostility.
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Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.