Beijing on the Brink: The Secret War for the Red Throne

The current situation in Beijing can be described as swords drawn and bows bent. It is no longer something that surface-level handshakes and group photos can cover up. The shaking of the military caused by the arrest of Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli is huge. The movements in every major military district let the common people see the tension at this time. Maybe big things will still happen. Since the Ministry of Defense officially announced on the 24th that Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Yuxia and Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli are suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and are under investigation, and after the military newspaper editorial used a string of serious words to define it, overseas social media platforms have frequently leaked news. Highways entering Beijing are closed, military trucks are in lines, tanks go first, long lines of soldiers are marching on the streets of Tongzhou in Beijing, and soldiers with loaded guns are in the streets of Suzhou. It looks like a big army is pressing down, like a storm is coming. The most important thing is that the expressing loyalty culture, which the CCP is best at, actually got stuck this time and did not follow. Even former Central Party school professor Kai Xia said, this kind of silence under high pressure terror is itself an expression. You must know, in this system, silence is often scarier than shouting. So the questions come, has Xi Jinping really controlled the situation completely? Or did he just step on the gas pedal to the floor, only to find he cannot hold the steering wheel? Put the hardest official frame on the table first. On January 24th, the military newspaper published an editorial about the arrest of Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli. It used 5-inch serious charges against Zhang Yuxia, including, seriously failing the trust and heavy duty of the Party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, seriously stepping on and breaking the chairman responsibility system, and seriously helping political and corruption problems that affect the party's absolute leadership over the army and harm the party's foundation of power. The core point the editorial held onto was, breaking the chairman responsibility system. This is not a normal story about stealing money. This is raising the problem to the height of challenging the authority of the highest leader. You can understand it like this. Corruption is taking money. Breaking the chairman responsibility system is moving power. In the CCP's language, moving power is usually more deadly than taking money. This is also why the world instantly turned its focus from fighting corruption to coup, inter-fighting, and military power split. While the news that troops are coming out to fight back for Zhang Yuxia was flying everywhere, On January 27, the CCP authorities put out a stability card. Xi Jinping and his wife met the Prime Minister of Finland and his wife at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. This picture has two jobs for political stability. First, for inside. I am here. I am not under house arrest, and I am not missing. Second, for outside. I can still talk about United Nations order and China-Europe relations. I am still the pilot. In the CCP system, keeping the big picture stable is always higher than everything. When the power core has a big shake, especially involving the safety of the top leader, the first task is to create an outside illusion that the regime is still solid. The top leader showing up in public is the cheapest and most effective tool for stability. One person on the X platform posted the Beijing Garrison 1st Division has entered a state of war readiness. The 83rd Group Army of the Central Theater appeared in the suburbs of Beijing, very close to the center of power. All units in the capital are at level 1 war readiness. All military movements are stopped immediately. The 9 gates are closed, and all officers and soldiers must hand in their cell phones. A big war could start at any moment. On January 24, at a highway station in Tianjin, a big red sign said, the Beijing direction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tanggu Highway is closed, please turn around. Many people said they cannot enter Beijing now. Tiananmen Square has many police cars, and roads are blocked everywhere. This seems to prove the saying that the 9 gates are closed. Although Beijing did not announce martial law, military rule, it has actually entered a wartime state. A video from Battlefield Observation Studio Xiaoming shows that it looks like the CCP army coming from different places to Beijing needs to use the highways to save the king. The commanders of each theater and the leaders of each province have not expressed loyalty to Xi Jinping. Catching Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli made things go out of control, and forced the army to rebel. Chinese scholar Liu Junning got news from inside the CCP on the 26th. The Central Military Commission announced internally, the whole army is under military rule, every unit stays where they are, no moving is allowed. But videos sent by Chinese netizens from different places show that in Tangzhou, Beijing, there are endless soldiers walking on the road. In the streets of Suzhou, there are soldiers with guns moving positions. People even saw tanks on the streets. Other cars must give way to military trucks and tanks. The air is very tense, looking like a large-scale military action. A media person named Zhen Fei quoted a retired officer from the 31st Army saying that Xi Jinping's favorite, direct, 31st Army is now in big heart chaos. Even the second highest man in the army, Zhang Yuxia, was caught. This makes people feel both terror and sadness. Each army leader refuses to stand on Xi's side. Officers above the colonel level are handing in reports to quit or change jobs to avoid getting burned. Xi Jinping used his old friend Wang Qishan to fight tigers and get power in his first term. But when he had full power, Wang Qishan was pushed aside. He also used Zhang Yuxia's support in the military to get his third term at the 20th Party Congress. But now, he has caught Zhang Yuxia. Soldiers usually care about being from the same town and being war buddies. Xi Jinping's act of killing the donkey after it finished the work made many high military officials lose heart. News from Liu Juning shows that on the 26th, the Central Committee and the Discipline Commission sent more than 50 people to help the Military Discipline Commission. It is expected that more than 2,000 high-ranking officers will be punished, moved, or forced to retire. Canadian-Chinese writer Sheng Xue said in a program that her sources told her that because of the Zhang Yuxia event, more than 5,000 people in the army have been caught. But according to the CCP's past habits, after such a big military case, the next step should be. Every theater and every branch of the army holds meetings overnight. The newspaper shows it the next day. And everyone strongly supports and stands in line. But this time is an exception. Until now, there has been no large-scale loyalty show. Former professor Kai Xia said, Xi Jinping catching Zhang Yuxia and Liu Juning totally breaks the party rules and has no lawfulness inside the CCP. Except for the Ministry of Defense and the military newspaper, the usual supporting the wise decision of the Party Central has not happened. Instead, the whole party and army are in total silence. Under the 10 years of terror rule by Xi Jinping, the silence of the party and army is actually an expression. We can understand this as a system diagnosis. When orders work, everyone races to show loyalty. When orders might fail, everyone starts to watch. When everyone watches together, power starts to lose blood. Xi Jinping caught Zhang Yuxia, the biggest unstable factor in the army. But it seems he did not get the total power he wanted. Instead, the situation is not settled and is full of danger. Next is the most exciting part that people are curious about. The arrest process that looks like a Hollywood movie. One version from Zhang Wangjing in Australia says, Kai Xi first invited Liu Juning to talk about people and army problems, then controlled him. Xi Jinping then invited Zhang Yuxia to bring his family to a dinner to talk about old times and future jobs. But it became a Hongmin banquet. A trap. There is a bloodier version. Xing Shui heard from a friend, there might have been a gunfight at the Jingxi Hotel. Zhang Yuxia and Liu Junli planned to catch Xi Jinping on the night of January 18th. That night, Xi Jinping was going to stay at the Jingxi Hotel. Zhang and Liu planned to act, but Xi found out about the plan 2 hours before. Zhang's side did not know the news was leaked and sent people to act as planned. The people who arrived at the hotel had a gunfight with Xi Jinping's guards. Nine of Xi's guards died, and dozens of Zhang's people died. Right after, Xi Jinping's side caught all of Zhang and Liu's family members. Which one is more true? We cannot be sure yet. But both versions point to the same thing. This event is not a normal anti-corruption case. It is using armed force to make a political cut. Even more dramatic, the Wall Street Journal said Zhang Yuxia was accused of leaking core nuclear weapon secrets. But many people doubt this. People think if it was really a nuclear secret leak, the way of handling it and the news speed would not be like this. Some judge that this looks like selling outside news to bring it back inside, using foreign media to spread the word and put the label of traitor on them, which is the best way to make people angry and make the punishment look right. Doing this actually shows that they are very worried. Because what you really want to solve is likely not corruption, but there are still people in the army who do not obey. People in the Red Second Generation, kids of old leaders, do not follow you. You need to use selling out the country to cut off all sympathy and alliances at once. One writer said Xi caught Zhang Yuxia because he wants to make his power hereditary, passed to his son. And the Red Second Generation led by Zhang Yuxia is the biggest block. This saying lacks proof. But one thing cannot be ignored. If a top leader really wants to make special arrangements for a successor, he is afraid of two things, the shadows of the system. People in the party still talking about rules, whether the gun, army, is loyal. People in the army not following orders and trying to bargain. In this model, taking down Zhang and Liu is not just cleaning. It is clearing the road. And when the road is cleared to the end, it will cause chaos, Sheng Shui thinks. CCP chaos is a good thing. If the CCP really enters power shaking, the outside world, USA, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, is not afraid of it becoming weak, but afraid of it making a wrong move during the mess. Everyone knows Zhang Yuxia and Xi Jinping were very close. Their families knew each other for a long time, and they were childhood friends. When Xi Jinping broke the rules to get a third term in 2022, he had Zhang Yuxia's support. Now, Xi Jinping catching Zhang Yuxia has caught the world's attention. One person, Wen Rui, described their relationship. They are in the same car, driving a hundred miles per hour on the highway. Xi Jinping is driving with his hands on the wheel, and Zhang Yuxia is in the passenger seat. Wen Rui said, Xi Jinping bets Zhang Yuxia dares not touch him, or the car crashes and everyone dies. Zhang Yuxia also bets Xi Jinping dares not let go of the wheel to attack him, because the result would be just as bad. He imagined Xi Jinping would get off the car at the 21st Party Congress. The article said Zhang Yuxia was wrong. Xi Jinping has gone totally crazy. He let go of the wheel and started fighting Zhang Yuxia and the groups behind him. At the 20th Party Congress, there were seven people on the military commission. Chairman Xi, Vice Chairman Zhang Yuxia, and He Weidong, members Li Shangfu, Liu Zhenli, Xi Jinping first caught Zhang's man Li Shangfu, Zhang Yuxia fought back, and Xi's close men, Miao Hua and He Weidong fell. Then Xi Jinping suddenly caught Zhang Yuxia and Liu Zhenli. After the fight, only two people are left in the military commission. Wen Rui thinks it is not hard for Xi Jinping to catch Zhang and Liu. But what about Zhang's followers all over the army? Xi Jinping must change the whole army's blood, or he will never sleep well. These old followers might not go to Beijing to save Zhang Yuxia. But if Xi Jinping tries to go to local places to deal with them, it is like walking into a minefield to clear mines. If he is not careful, he will blow himself up first. Another writer, Wang Yukun, also thinks that by taking down Zhang and Liu, Xi has put himself on top of a volcano, and the future is very dangerous. So all the strange things you see today, Xi Jinping using diplomacy photos to press down the news, the army not following the loyalty script, the arrest details clashing, the nuclear leak label that doesn't make much sense, Beijing looking like it's under military rule, but also like a drill. All these signs point to one thing. The chain of power is becoming brittle, easy to break. When a system that stays together because of fear starts to make people not so afraid anymore, it is usually just one mistake, one accidental shot, or one slip away from a real giant earthquake.