Is Xi Jinping Losing Control of China?

So, uh, is Xi Jinping losing power? Welcome to China Uncensored. I'm Chris Chapel. Before we begin, YouTube probably won't like this episode, so don't forget to join Operation Honeypot by watching to the end and leaving a Honeypot emoji in the comments below to help the show with the algorithm. Uh, so, have you seen General Hostility recently? Something weird is going on with the people's favorite communist soap opera. Previously on General Hostility. Chinese Communist Party core leader Xi Jinping will be removed next month even though he continues to solidify his power. She has completely lost control of the military as he invites the world for a huge military parade in September. Shei's allies are being purged throughout the CCP, or possibly just promoted. She's power is so weak, he can't even travel abroad, which is why he's preparing to flee the country. What the heck is happening? Why does nothing make sense anymore? Find out next on General Hostility. Wow. It's like the writers have totally gone rogue and they can't figure out what's going on anymore. So, over the last few weeks, you may have noticed many YouTube channels, social media posts, and media reports claiming that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is losing power. Even the New York Post is asking whether Xi Jinping is on his way out. To which I have to say, hey, New York Post, stay in your lane. Leave the elite Chinese Communist Party politics to me. I don't go around making inappropriate puns about Anthony Weiner. Let's both stick to what we're good at. So, is Xi Jinping losing power? Is he about to be removed in a CCP coup? To be honest, I've been doing this a long time now, and I've kind of lost count of how many rumored coup attempts there have been against Shei. There was a time back in 2018 where there were reports of gunfire in the heart of Beijing because anti-shi groups had forged a consensus to overthrow him. and dramatic events were about to unfold in the Chinese capital. Spoiler alert, dramatic events did not unfold in the Chinese capital. Then there was the time in 2022 when Xi Jinping had reportedly suffered a brain aneurysm and was facing a coup because of the CO lockdowns. No coup then either. But that shouldn't be confused with the completely separate time also in 2022 when there were rumors that she had been put under house arrest and there was a coup because there had been a bunch of canceled flights and again no coup for you. But I don't want to say the party has never attempted a coup. Let's jump back a decade to 2012 right before Xi Jinping became the leader of the CCP. Back then, rumors were swirling that CCP officials Bohili and his mentor Joe Yong Kong, both part of Dead Toto Jang Zamin's faction, were trying to get rid of Xi Jinping. Turns out they did plot to overthrow Xi Jinping, but they didn't succeed. Now they're both in prison. So, what's with the latest reports that Xi Jinping is losing power? Let me walk you through it. All of the current rumors about Xi Jinping losing power start with the idea that he had a stroke a year ago. Specifically, that he had a stroke in the middle of a major Chinese Communist Party meeting, the third plenum, which was held last July. Some accounts have him dramatically collapsing in the middle of the meeting. How do we know she had a stroke? Well, people point to this photo of she meeting with Vietnamese leader Toll Lamb in August 2024. specifically, she's hairline, which is shaved in an unusual way. They also claim you can see an L-shaped scar underneath, proving she had brain surgery. And because she was incapacitated by the stroke, the Chinese Communist Party elders had to step in and take over. People like former CCP leader Hu Jin Tao and former Premier Wja Bao. But she's supposed stroke was just the beginning. In December, China's official state-run military newspaper, the PLA Daily, published five articles supposedly criticizing Xi Jinping's centralized authority and leadership style. These articles talk about something called democratic centralism, which is a Leninist thing that has nothing to do with democracy. They also promoted collective leadership. It's especially the collective leadership part that people are getting excited about. They say it's clearly criticism of Xi Jinping's one-man rule and a sign the CCP is going back to collective leadership, thus curbing she's power. At the same time, the People's Liberation Army has been going through some major purges. I made episodes about the PLA purges on YouTube and on our website, chinaunensored.tv, so I won't go into the details here. There is a lot. The important thing to know is that some of these military purges have targeted people that are clearly Xi Jinping's allies, his own faction, which people see as a sign that she's losing control over the military. Then there's the issue of Xi Jinping's unusual public absence. First, Xi Jinping went missing for a two-week stretch in late May to early June where he didn't appear in public at all. Then Chinese commentators have pointed out to a decrease in staterun media coverage of Shei, including she's disappearance from the front page of the People's Daily. Here are the latest developments. Last week, the Pulit bro held a meeting on new decisionmaking and coordination bodies for the central committee. People see this as a further sign that collective leadership is back. Meanwhile, Ma Shing Ruer, the party chief of Shinjang region, was replaced. This is significant because Ma was considered close to Xi Jinping's wife, Pong Leuen. This sudden replacement was seen as another blow to Shei's power. And finally, she is not attending the BRICS summit in Brazil this week, the first time he will miss a BRICS meeting in 12 years. Some think this is because he fears if he leaves the country, someone else will seize control. And finally, the biggest sign she is losing power, he's getting interested in pickle ball. Pickle ball is clearly the beginning of the end. Okay, so to recap these rumors, last year Xi Jinping supposedly had a stroke which led party elders to take over. Then the CCP started calling for collective leadership amidst purges in the PLA. Xi Jinping went missing and staterun media is demoting him. And finally, his situation is so unstable he can't leave the country. Then we get into the really wild rumors. Secret polarpro meetings with party elders criticizing Xi Jinping and calling for reform. PLA General Jang Yoshia taking over control of the military and working with who and one to get rid of Xi. Former Premier Lee Ka Chiangs widow accusing Xi Jinping of murdering Lee. She being forced to resign in August. Pong Lee Yuen and Xi Jinping planning to flee the country to go live in Bellarus. I think we can safely call this kind of stuff general hostility fanfiction. These rumors are pretty crazy, but we've seen crazy rumors before. Back in 2022, rumors were flying that Xi Jinping would be replaced by Lee Kaang at the 20th Party Congress in October. That didn't happen. Instead, she got a third term and managed to get a bunch of his people into positions of power. That's not to say that crazy sounding things can't be true. After all, I started China Uncensored in 2012 during a really weird time in CCP politics. That's when Wang Lee Jun, a police chief who worked for Biilai, remember one of the guys who staged that coup against Xi Bo was a darling of the Jangzamin faction, the guy they wanted in charge instead of Shei. So Wong, this hard-nosed police chief, fled to the US consulate disguised as an old woman. He accused Bo's wife, Guyi, of murdering a British businessman named Neil Haywood, which turned out to be true. Everybody ended up in prison, including Bochili's boss, Joe Yang Kong, a human thamp. So yes, crazy stuff can happen during CCP power struggles. People call CCP politics a black box because you can never see what's going on inside. You can only guess at what's happening by looking at what's around the box. Sometimes it's clear that something is happening, but no one knows exactly what that is. We're all guessing. Take the idea that Xi Jinping is losing power. A lot of the things that prove she is losing power might not show that at all. Let's start with she's alleged stroke. If he really had a stroke during last year's third plenum, that would have been between July 15th and 18th. There's video of she meeting with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Maloney on July 29th, only 11 days after the plenum. Looks pretty good for a guy who just had a stroke. Don't worry, there's a logical explanation. This isn't the real Xi Jinping. It's a body double. The real Xi Jinping is recovering in an underground medical facility. I'm not kidding. That's the explanation some people were giving. Look, not to be a negative Nancy, but when you start bringing body doubles into this, I'm going to take your explanations with a few pounds of salt. Okay, so what about all the CCP talk about democratic centralism and collective leadership? Well, according to political risk consultancy Sino Insider, democratic centralism was actually pushed by Xi Jinping. After serious corruption in the PLA was disclosed in 2023, the shei leadership began requiring party committees at all levels in the military to adhere to democratic centralism. So those articles in the PLA Daily were actually about following what Xi Jinping wants, not challenging his leadership. As for the purges in the PLA, it's one of those cases where we know something is happening, but we don't know why. It could be someone else purging Xi's people, or like I explained in this video, it could be Xi Jinping purging his own people. Remember, Xi Jinping is currently planning a huge military parade to celebrate the end of World War II in September and is inviting a bunch of world leaders. Does that sound like a guy who's lost control of the military? What about Xi Jinping's public disappearance? Well, it's not the first time that's happened. She had previously gone many days without making any public appearance on at least three occasions since taking office, including for 19 days in August 2018. Remember that was also when there were rumors that she had been removed in a coup, which did not happen. Okay. So, what about Xi Jinping being absent from the front page of the People's Daily? Well, back in 2022, the China Media Project did a count and found that since she came to power, there were close to 500 front pages in the People's Daily that didn't mention Xi Jinping and that it was normal to have three or four editions of the People's Daily that didn't mention she on the front page in any given month. And what about those new coordination bodies for the central committee? More collective leadership? Well, it turns out that Xi Jinping chaired the polit burough meeting that set up those bodies, which probably means they're not a huge threat to his power. What about Ma Shenue, the party secretary of Shinjang being replaced? Well, according to Staver Media, Ma will be given another position. We don't know yet what that position is. It could be a promotion. We'll have to wait and see. And with Xi Jinping skipping the brick summit, there's no way to know whether that's about the power struggle or something else entirely. Maybe she doesn't think it's worth it when his buddy Vladimir isn't going either. My point is all of these things could be signs that she is losing power and they could also not be signs that she is losing power. If you're really motivated, you could find signs that she is losing power in anything, even pickle ball. That's the danger. If you gaze long into the black box of CCP politics, it gazes also into you. Back in 2023, Chinese political commentator Wu Guo Guang wrote about why the party actually likes having this constant rumor mill. First of all, it distracts people from their own problems. And what's even worse is that it gives people hope in the CCP. Political rumors can often give people some hope in the future of the party that shadowy forces within the elite might actually confront the political stagnation of the system and in doing so even offer a way forward. So according to a lot of these people, Xi Jinping is the bad guy. The CCP itself can still reform. The party elders said so. Let's just give them more time to fix the system. Hey, remember who rumor had it was supposed to reform the system back in 2012? It was Xi Jinping. This is the mistake that the New York Post article I mentioned earlier makes. It hopes that the party elders of the CCP will put a new pragmatic leader in place. Such a change will have huge positive implications for the US and our Democratic allies. If handled correctly, Trump can win the Cold War with China without firing a shot. Yes, we don't have to do anything to stop the CCP. It will reform on its own. The article then goes on to hope that she's replacement will learn from the success of the global west and do free markets and rule of law stuff. That's never going to happen as long as the CCP is in charge. Let me say one more time for the people in the back. The CCP will never reform. Whether it's under Xi Jinping or another CCP leader, the CCP will always be a murderous mafia regime. The CCP believes that if it tries to reform, it will fall apart. That's what CCP leaders learned from the fall of the Soviet Union. So again, the CCP will never reform. Whether or not Xi Jinping is losing power, as long as the CCP still has power, we can't just sit back and wait for things to get better. Which is why it's so important that you're following what's happening in China by watching episodes like this. And if you want an even deeper dive into the inner workings of the CCP and highlevel power struggles, check out this special general hostility episode on our awesome membersonly website. We want to give you a sample of all the cool stuff we offer. So unlock this video with your email and you can watch it for free. You won't find it on YouTube. Once again, I'm Chris Chapel. See you next time.