Zhang Youxia’s counterstrike before the 4th plenum

We're in the final hours leading up to the CCP's fourth plenum. Jangua has openly challenged Xiinping. A major drama unloaded in Beijing in the last 24 hours. Uh yesterday uh Friday a defense ministry spokesman held a press sir and announced that nine senior military officials including vice chairman of the CMCong has been expelled from both the party and the military for serious job related crimes. Their cases have been handed over to military prosecutors for indictment. Now this announcement confirmed some of the names from a long list of missing PLA generals. Of the nine generals except for one, the other eight um are all members of the central committee me uh central committee. So the this announcement is extremely unsettling for five reasons. The first one is the massive scale. Okay, it wasn't just one or two generals. Nine four generals being removed in a single day due to serious crimes is unprecedented in the history of the PLA. And the announcement didn't specify the crimes, but the wording was damning and severe. Second unusual quality of this event is the timing. Now people usually expect this kind of announcement being made after the fourth plan as the result of the meeting but it was announced on the last working day before the clan. And the defense minister was basically saying that the decision to remove the nine generals from the military and from the party had already been approved by the leadership and the central military commission and would be endorsed at the platinum making it look like a preemptive political move and a stick warning to the allies of of the nine generals. And then third is the messenger. It was announced by the defense ministry which is part of the state council a government apparatus not a party organ. However, the purge involves some of the highest ranking military leaders and Kong who was uh a poly bureau member. So usually announcements like this come from the party's discipline discipline inspection commission or the general office of the party's central commission. Definitely not defense ministry. Number four, the president. Now, it's the first time the PLA has removed its vice chairman of the CMC, a sitting one. There were only two presidents where active CMC vice chairman were ousted. The first one was General Lingiel mouse chosen heir who died in a plane crash in Mongolia in 19 I believe 1971 or 1972 while fleeing to the Soviet Union. And the second was former party chief Tao Xiang who was also CMC vicechairman under Deniaoing and Tao was removed because he opposed using force to crack down on the student movement in 1989. Xian wasn't a military leader and his vice chairmanship was purely symbolic. So Hueong's purging marks the first time the PLA has ever removed a sitting vice chairman. And number five, the most shocking part of this development is that all nine generals are Xiinping's loyalists without exception. And they're not just his loyalists. They are the pillars of of the shei faction. There are his handpicked diehard loyalists. Let me tell you who they are so you understand the scale of this. Okay. So first on the list is vice chairman Hawei Dong. He is the highest ranking among them. He had been rumored to be sacked since March um when he went missing. He was Xinping's right-hand man in the military, someone she had fasttracked through every rule and rank. Now three years later, he has fallen from grace, becoming the shortest serving CMC vice chairman and poly bureau member. So his downfall absolutely humiliates not just himself but Xiinping. And so if Hu is she's right-hand man, then Meia Hua is Xiinping's left-hand man. From 2017 to 2024, for seven years, Meow was she's chief political commasar, especially playing the role of uh a personnel boss responsible for promoting senior officers and ensuring ideological loyalty. Now like Hi Dong Meowa came from Xiinping's old base the uh the old 31st group army in Fuian. She's original plan reportly was that was to have succeeded Jang Yoshia as first CMC vice chairman and Meia as the second vice chairman. So forming a triangle of absolute control. Now Xiinping's both hands have been chopped off. Next on the list is General Hong. I don't know if you remember July last year. That's when H was promoted to a for general and also to be um the executive deputy director of the political department. So he was basically groomed to replace uh Meow Hua to lead the political department and personnel. This promotion was so important to Xiinping that he held a special ceremony just for him. And Xiinping likely planned, you know, to um to use him to uh replace Meua uh when when Meowa moves up, but Meow fell and soon after Hunging followed. So the two men in charge of political loyalty and personnel are now both gone. Uh the next is Wanguin uh another fallen general uh who also came from Xiinping's old base the 31st group army in Fuian. Now one rose fast from commander of the 80th group army to deputy commander of the eastern theater then commander of the southern theater and finally deputy head of the joint operations center. Uh next on the list is someone you're familiar with. This is General Ling Xanyang, the man who replaced Hwe Dong to be the commander of the eastern theater. He had commanded three different group armies, the 31st, the 47th, and the 72nd. A rare feat. And he participated in Xiinping, two of Xiinping's military parades in one in 2015 and one in 2017. And he rose from lieutenant general to full general in just 14 months. the fastest promotion ever. And Xiinping counted on General Ling to lead the Eastern Theater Command, the main force for any Taiwan operations. But before any war began, Ling fell. The next on the list is so like Meia had once been political chief of the 31st group army. So he was promoted under Meow's watch. So he was meant to be Xiinping's trusted uh political inspector in the army. So when Meow went down, Ching followed. Next is Yanu. Now Yan Huaj had also been Mao's subordinate in the navy. He was promoted on Meow's recommendation. So when the mentor fell, the prodigy fell too. Wo Bing's fall hits even harder. He is the fourth rocket force commander to be purged in I think the past what two to three years now. The rocket force is Xiinping's crown jewel responsible for China's nuclear and missile arsenal key to both Taiwan operation and US deterrence. But this elite branch has now lost four consecutive commanders under sheep. And they're not just consecutive, they're all I mean it's only been around for 10 years. So, it only has had four commanders, but they're all gone. So, think about it. One mistake is forgivable, two understandable, three disastrous, but four. That's catastrophic. Finally, Wrining, the armed police chief, commanding over 1 million officers. Now, Xiinping trusted this man very much. Um she had restructured the armed police out of fear of coup, removing it from from state council oversight and placing it directly under the CMC and he purged the previous generals promoted um during the Jenzaming Huin era and he installed Wang Trining. Now, prior just to show how much Xiinping trusts trusts this man, prior to leading the armed police, one had served as commander of the Beijing garrison from 2016 to 2020. Now he's purged. So think about it. Nine generals, all handpicked by Xiinping, all loyal, all toppled. In the past, these downfalls were only whispered rumors. Now they're official. Now what I want to tell you next is what I think is the most striking how the state media has treated this announcement. That's the most alarming part of this this uh latest development. So the original announcement on Friday it it was said that the decision was approved by the party's central leadership and the CMC and did not mention Xi Jinping's name at all. the defense ministry held basically held a press conference. So after the press conference um the defense ministry posted the news on its website at 5:15 p.m. And the title reads as you can see on the screen and seven other generals seriously violated discipline and are removed from the party and the military. Shinua reposted the same story 20 minutes later but they buried it. They hid it in some place on their website and you could hardly find it. And then around 11 p.m. Shinua published a second version with a new title and that one says something like this. Defense ministry spokesperson held a presser and answered questions about recent military affairs. Suddenly, Meowa and Hobeon's names disappear from the headline and the piece downplayed the purge by mixing it with unrelated issues like the South China Sea tensions. So, it made a major event in the military sound like a Q&A session by the spokesperson. So, that's on the Shinua news. And then People's Daily, well, People's Daily completely stayed silent uh first yesterday. Well, it's probably because there are print media, but they could if they want they could still put something on their website. And today they printed they printed only the modified Q&A version, right? So they printed this version, the one you saw is it's all about Q&A. Um on page six of its I don't know what you call the integrated page. Meanwhile, CCTV, right, one of the most important state propaganda machine, uh CCTV's prime time new evening news completely ignored this earthshattering event both yesterday and today. It's the first time in CCP's history that defense ministry leads or led Shinua and People's Daily. Usually, it's the other way around. So clearly the division between the CC between the CCP's propaganda system and the military is out in the open. So now here's the big question. So did Xiinping take down these generals himself or did his opponent do it? I don't think Xiinping has the guts to take down this many of his own people. Even if he did, it would make him look very bad and he has no reason to do it unless they went against him. But there's no way these these nine generals would rebel against Xiinping alone without the support of Johnny Osha without you know it just doesn't make sense. And the biggest evidence to me is the split between the military media or or I should say between the defense ministry and state media because if this were Xiinping's move state outlets like the People's Daily, the CCTV would be all over it, right? But they're not. They muted the news and played it down. Remember I said that Xiinping still controls 95% of the propaganda machine even though he only controls 10% of the military. So that's proof that this was not Xiinping's action. It was Jia's doing. Okay. So now let's talk about so why were they removed? Um well judging by the stern language in the announcement it wasn't about corruption. It was political. It was clear that they were anti-party and anti- I mean when I say party CCP they were anti-CCCP they were anti- the PLA they were involved in a political coup against the military's leadership and that's not Xiinping that's Jang Yua and based on previous reports after Xiinping fell ill during the third platinum last July Jua took control of the military and when Xiinping recovered his loyalists tried to help him regain gain authority but failed.