?האם שי ג'ין-פינג מאבד שליטה

CCP regime leader Xi Jinping now acknowledging the recent political shakeup in his own military. In an address on Tuesday, he referenced the removal of the country's top military general Zheng Yousha back in January. Zheng was seen as a close ally to Xi, but behind the scenes, he was also backed by other Communist Party leaders. Analysts say Xi kicking him out is truly unprecedented. So does this internal turmoil, or how does it impact the United States, and how should the U.S. be dealing with China moving forward? To discuss, we welcome Lei, the host of Lei's Real Talk. Lei, host of Lei's Real Talk, it's great to have you on the program. Well, thank you, Steve, for having me. Glad to be here. Absolutely. So, Lei, it's been over two weeks since- Three weeks now. Three weeks since General Zheng Yousha was reportedly removed. Can anyone inside China truly say what's happening and what's going on, and what is your assessment? It's difficult because most information is sealed off from the public, and those who actually know either don't want to speak or simply can't. And then on top of that, the situation is evolving rapidly, right? What looked true yesterday may already be outdated today. So it's really hard for anyone to say at a given point exactly what's happening. So in China's political system, truth moves slowly, but power shifts fast. So Lei, most Western analysts argue that Xi Jinping's power remains unchallenged, and that he still has the final say, absolute control. You along with many other diaspora analysts tend to take a different view. You don't say it's quite that simple. Walk us through the contrast. Well, like you said, most Western analysts say that Xi Jinping is fully in control while we say that he's not. And I mean, the clues are all over the place. If you look, it's been what, three weeks since Zhang Youxia has been brought down, but no top CCP officials have publicly stated their support for the decision, and no military service branch or theater command has publicly supported the Party Central's decision. Most of the CCP organs have remained quiet on that. So that means this is a significant gamble that Xi Jinping took. And if you look, if you argue that Xi Jinping is indeed firmly in control, he wouldn't need to take such a risky, rule-breaking move to bring down the generals, right? I mean, the CCP has a standard playbook, quiet internal investigation, Politburo approval, and then a formal announcement months later. And that's how you remove a senior official when you are in control. So the fact that Xi Jinping bypassed party procedures shows that he's gambling, and he took a big gamble, and that's not managing. So people gamble when they feel power slipping. Now, how unprecedented, Lei, is it that he has bypassed these party procedures? And what does that tell you? I mean, people say the last time this kind of drama unfolded was in 1972, when Mao's vice chairman of CMC was shot down in outer Mongolia, when his plane was allegedly, you know, when he was fleeing to Russia. And that was 1972. So it's been, what, over a half a century that something this dramatic has happened. So it's not a small feat.