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Xi Jinping's Days Are Numbered

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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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    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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    Find out next time, on General Hostility.
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    Once again I’m Chris Chappell, see you next time.
Title:
Xi Jinping's Days Are Numbered
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
10:59

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